Metabolism of glutathione and ascorbate in lingonberry cultivars during in vitro and ex vitro propagation

P. Vyas, S. C. Debnath, A. U. Igamberdiev

Biologia plantarum 57:603-612, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0339-8

Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. ssp. vitis-idaea Britton) cultivars Regal, Splendor, and Erntedank were obtained by conventional softwood cuttings (taken as a control), by in vitro shoot proliferation of node explants, and by adventitious shoot regeneration from excised leaves of micropropagated shoots. In the plants propagated in vitro, the total ascorbate content increased and its pool was more oxidized, the total glutathione content also increased but its pool became more reduced. The leaves of plants obtained from the in vitro culture showed significantly higher antioxidant enzyme activities except for dehydroascorbate...

Indole-3-butyric acid and myo-inositol impacts on in vitro rooting of the cherry rootstocks CAB-6P and Gisela 6

V. Sarropoulou, K. Dimassi-Theriou, I. Therios

Biologia plantarum 57:613-619, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0352-y

The present study investigates the effects of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) alone and in combination with myo-inositol on in vitro rooting and biochemical responses in the cherry rootstocks CAB-6P (Prunus cerasus L.) and Gisela 6 (Prunus cerasus × Prunus canescens). For the CAB-6P rootstock, the best results for root number (6.31), fresh mass (FM), dry mass (DM), and rooting percentage (100 %) were obtained on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with 2 mg dm^-3 IBA and maximum root length (30.57 mm) was obtained at 1 mg dm^-3 IBA. Myo-inositol suppressed the positive effects of IBA on root length. In the Gisela...

The regulation of transcription of genes related to oxidative stress and glutathione synthesis in Zea mays leaves by nitric oxide

V. S. Hermes, P. Dall'asta, F. P. Amaral, K. B. Anacleto, A. C. M. Arisi

Biologia plantarum 57:620-626, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0353-x

Apocynin was used as an inducer of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis in leaves of two maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars (SHS 3031 and DKB 240). The transcription of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-ecs), glutathione synthetase (gshs), chalcone synthase (chs), flavanone 3-β-hydroxylase (fht1), glutathione S-transferase (gst23), ascorbate peroxidase (apx1, apx2), catalase (cat1, cat3), and superoxide dismutase (sod2) genes were quantified in leaves of maize and NO presence was detected by fluorescence microscopy. An increase in the fluorescence after apocynin treatment was not...

Transgenic Arabidopsis plants over-expressing cotton DELLA or DELLA domain deletion: insights into DELLA gene function

W. B. Liao, N. F. Xu, M. Peng

Biologia plantarum 57:627-634, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0343-z

Gibberellic acid (GA) promotes cotton fiber cell elongation under in vitro culture conditions and GA signal transduction is mediated by DELLA proteins. Our laboratory has cloned several DELLA genes from cotton and generated transgenic lines in Arabidopsis over-expressing the DELLA gene (GhRGL) and the DELLA-domain deletion mutant gene (Ghrgl). Comparative transcriptome profiling was performed on Arabidopsis transgenic lines over-expressing both GhRGL and Ghrgl. KEGG pathway analysis indicated that the differential genes participated in many important pathways, such as response to...

Functional expression and subcellular localization of pea polymorphic isoflavone synthase CYP93C18

M. Pičmanová, D. Reňák, J. Feciková, P. Růžička, P. Mikšátková, O. Lapčík, D. Honys

Biologia plantarum 57:635-645, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0344-y

Isoflavone synthase (IFS; CYP93C) plays a key role in the biosynthesis of phenolic secondary metabolites, isoflavonoids. These compounds, which are well-known for their benefits to human health and plant defence, are produced mostly in legumes. However, more than 200 of them have been described in 59 other plant families without any knowledge of their respective IFS orthologue genes (with the sole exception of sugar beet). In this study, we selected IFS from Pisum sativum L. (CYP93C18) for functional expression. CYP93C18 was isolated, cloned, and introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana. The presence of the gene was shown by...

Gene expression of the oil palm transcription factor EgAP2-1 during fruit ripening and in response to ethylene and ABA treatments

V. Omidvar, S. N. A. Abdullah, M. Ebrahimi, C. L. Ho, M. Mahmood

Biologia plantarum 57:646-654, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0355-8

A cDNA encoding an ERE-binding protein (EgAP2-1) was isolated from the oil palm fruit mesocarp treated with ethylene using yeast one-hybrid assay. EgAP2-1 belongs to the AP2 subfamily of the APETALA2/ethylene-responsive factor (AP2/ERF) proteins and contains two highly conserved AP2/EREBP DNA-binding domains (DNA-BD). Sequence comparison of EgAP2-1 with other AP2 proteins revealed high conservation of the two AP2/EREBP domains and linker region among these proteins. Its protein was localized to the nucleus of onion epidermis cells and showed ERE-specific binding, transcriptional activation, and transactivation properties in yeast and in vitro....

Molecular analysis of the annexin gene family in soybean

Y. M. Feng, X. K. Wei, W. X. Liao, L. H. Huang, H. Zhang, S. C. Liang, H. Peng

Biologia plantarum 57:655-662, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0334-0

Annexins play a crucial role in plant development and response to environmental stimuli. In this study, a total of 23 annexin genes (GmANN1 - GmANN23) were identified from the soybean genome database and for two of them (GmANN11 and GmANN14), complete cDNAs were cloned. GmANN1 - GmANN23 encoded a set of predicted proteins which showed high similarity to other known annexins. Most GmANN genes contained four putative annexin repeats. Generally, a type II Ca²⁺-binding site is found to exist in the first and fourth repeats. GmANN1, 10, 11, 12, and 14 showed different...

Discovery of loci determining pre-harvest sprouting and dormancy in wheat and barley applying segregation and association mapping

U. Lohwasser, M. A. Rehman Arif, A. Börner

Biologia plantarum 57:663-674, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0332-2

Three wheat and two barley populations were studied in order to find loci responsible for dormancy and pre-harvest sprouting. A classical quantitative trait loci analysis was combined with an association mapping approach. Many quantitative trait loci and marker trait associations could be detected on all seven chromosome groups of wheat and on the chromosomes 2H, 3H, 5H, 6H, and 7H of barley. Especially, the known regions on chromosomes 3A and 4A for wheat and 5H for barley were confirmed. Putative functions could be found via a candidate homologues search and via expressed sequence tag annotation. On chromosome 3A, the viviparous1...

Peroxiredoxins are involved in two independent signalling pathways in the abiotic stress protection in Vitis vinifera

P. Vidigal, R. Carvalho, S. Amâncio, L. Carvalho

Biologia plantarum 57:675-683, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0346-9

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) play major roles in preventing oxidative damage and their function is consistent with the presence of Prx isoforms in most, if not all, cellular compartments and their expression is dependent on environmental conditions. The aim of this study was to identify and characterize genes encoding Prxs in Vitis vinifera. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT PCR) was used to determine their response to irradiance, heat, and water stress. We identified seven vvprx genes, two of which were especially responsive to water stress, followed by heat stress, but no major changes were observed after high irradiance....

Cucumber BAX inhibitor-1, a conserved cell death suppressor and a negative programmed cell death regulator under cold stress

X. H. Chen, H. Yu, H. J. Deng, J. X. Chen, H. B. Mi, L. C. Mao

Biologia plantarum 57:684-690, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0347-8

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a genetically controlled and conserved process in eukaryotes during development as well as in response to pathogens and other stresses. BAX inhibitor-1 (BI-1) has been implicated as an anti-PCD factor which is highly conserved in plants. Sequence of putative cucumber BI-1 protein exhibited 77.7 % identity and 91.2 % positive value with the homologue Blast BI-1 protein of Arabidopsis thaliana (AtBI-1). This highly homologous protein to the AtBI-1 protein was named CsBI-1. This protein contains an open reading frame (ORF) of 250 amino acids with a BAX inhibitor domain and five transmembrane regions conserved...

The OsMyb4 gene family: stress response and transcriptional auto-regulation mechanisms

E. Baldoni, A. Genga, A. Medici, I. Coraggio, F. Locatelli

Biologia plantarum 57:691-700, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0331-3

The rice OsMyb4 gene, which encodes a Myb transcription factor (TF), improves the stress tolerance/resistance when expressed in both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous transgenic plants. In this study, a phylogenetic analysis showed the existence of putative OsMyb4 homologues in monocot and dicot species. In particular, the analysis revealed that OsMyb4 belongs to a small rice gene subfamily conserved among monocots. The expression analyses of the OsMyb4-like genes in rice, wheat, and Arabidopsis indicated that these genes are involved in the response to dehydration, cold, and wounding. Moreover, the in silico analysis...

Characterization of a wheat C2 domain protein encoding gene regulated by stripe rust and abiotic stresses

G. Zhang, Y. F. Sun, Y. M. Li, Y. L. Dong, X. L. Huang, Y. T. Yu, J. M. Wang, X. M. Wang, X. J. Wang, Z. S. Kang

Biologia plantarum 57:701-710, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0330-4

Plant C2 domain proteins play important roles in diverse cellular processes including growth, development, and membrane targeting, as well as in abiotic and biotic stress adaptations by sensing intracellular Ca²⁺ signals. In this study, we isolated a novel C2 domain protein gene, TaERG3, from wheat infected by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici. TaERG3 was predicted to encode a 144 amino acid protein with molecular mass of 15.68 kD and isoelectric point of 3.93. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of TaERG3 using InterProScan revealed the presence of an N-terminal calciumdependent phospholipid-binding...

Ferulic acid pretreatment enhances dehydration-stress tolerance of cucumber seedlings

D. -M. Li, Y. -X. Nie, J. Zhang, J. -S. Yin, Q. Li, X. -J. Wang, J. -G. Bai

Biologia plantarum 57:711-717, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0326-0

To examine whether ferulic acid (FA) could protect plants from dehydration stress and to investigate a mechanism for the protection, cucumber seedlings were pretreated with 0.5 mM FA for 2 d and then were exposed to dehydration induced by 10 % polyethylene glycol 6000. After pretreatment with FA, the activities of antioxidant enzymes (catalase, superoxide dismutase, and quaiacol peroxidase) in leaves were higher than under dehydration treatment alone which was in accordance with the increased transcript levels of respective genes. Moreover, the combination of FA pretreatment and dehydration reduced the content of superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide,...

Exogenous salicylic acid enhances wheat drought tolerance by influence on the expression of genes related to ascorbate-glutathione cycle

G. Z. Kang, G. Z. Li, G. Q. Liu, W. Xu, X. Q. Peng, C. Y. Wang, Y. J. Zhu, T. C. Guo

Biologia plantarum 57:718-724, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0335-z

Treatment with 0.5 mM salicylic acid (SA) significantly alleviated growth inhibition induced by drought in wheat seedlings, manifested by less decreassed fresh mass, dry mass, plant height, root length, and less increased lipid peroxidation. Under drought stress, SA significantly increased the content of ascorbate (ASA) and glutathione (GSH). We determined the full-length cDNA sequences of genes encoding the glutathione-S-transferase 1 (GST1) and 2 (GST2) and we also measured the transcription of eight genes related to ASA-GSH cycle. The results indicated that exogenous SA significantly enhanced the transcription of GST1, GST2,...

Sex expression in monoecious cucumbers micropropagated in vitro

A. Kiełkowska

Biologia plantarum 57:725-731, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0342-0

The effects of plant growth regulators (PRGs) on the induction of flowering and sex expression in micropropagated cucumbers are presented. The highest number of male flowers (6.0 ± 0.7 per plant) was produced by cv. Kmicic F1 on the Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 4.0 μM kinetin. The highest number of female flowers (3.1 ± 0.3) was also observed in cv. Kmicic F1 on either control (PRG-free) medium or medium supplemented with 6.4 μM indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). The MS medium supplemented with 4.4 μM benzyladenine inhibited flower formation. The highest percentage of flowering plantlets (67.5 ± 7.5) was...

Sex-related differences of two ecologically divergent Salix species in the responses of enzyme activities to atmospheric CO₂ enrichment

T. Ruuhola, L. Nybakken, R. Julkunen-Tiitto

Biologia plantarum 57:732-738, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0338-9

Sex-related differences in the responses of plants to CO₂ enrichment are still rarely studied. In this study, we examined the effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂ (720 μmol mol^-1) on the activities of polyphenoloxidases (PPOs) and guaiacol peroxidases (PODs) in male and female plants of two ecologically divergent willow species Salix repens and S. phylicifolia. We detected that females invested more in PPO-based defence than did males, whose PPO activity decreased as a result of CO₂ enrichment. Moreover, we found that the inherently slow-growing S. repens had markedly higher POD activity...

The involvement of auxin in root architecture plasticity in Arabidopsis induced by heterogeneous phosphorus availability

Q. Liu, G. Q. Zhou, F. Xu, X. L. Yan, H. Liao, J. X. Wang

Biologia plantarum 57:739-748, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0327-z

Homogeneous low phosphorus availability was reported to regulate root architecture in Arabidopsis via auxin, but the roles of auxin in root architecture plasticity to heterogeneous P availability remain unclear. In this study, we employed auxin biosynthesis-, transport- and signalling-related mutants. Firstly, we found that in contrast to low P (LP) content in the whole medium, primary root (PR) growth of Arabidopsis was partially rescued in the medium divided into two parts: upper with LP and lower with high P (HP) content or in the reverse arrangement. The down part LP was more effective to arrest PR growth as well as to decrease density...

Leaf senescence in tomato mutants as affected by irradiance and phytohormones

R. F. Carvalho, C. C. Monteiro, A. C. Caetano, M. N. Dourado, P. L. Gratão, C. R. B. Haddad, L. E. P. Peres, R. A. Azevedo

Biologia plantarum 57:749-757, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0333-1

We explored the interaction between radiation of different wavelength and jasmonic acid (JA) or brassinosteroids (BR) on leaf senescence-induced oxidative stress. Three approaches were used: 1) jasmonic acid insensitive1-1 (jai1-1) and brassinosteroid-deficient [dumpy (dpy)] mutants were treated with red (R) or far-red (FR) radiation; 2) phytochromedeficient aurea (au) and high pigment-1 (hp-1) (radiation exaggerated response) mutants were treated with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) or epibrassinolide (epiBL); and 3) double mutants au jai1-1 and au dpy were produced....

Effect of chromium and nitrogen form on photosynthesis and anti-oxidative system in barley

S. Ali, M. A. Farooq, M. M. Jahangir, F. Abbas, S. A. Bharwana, G. P. Zhang

Biologia plantarum 57:758-763, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0336-y

The effect of nitrogen forms on photosynthesis and anti-oxidative systems of barley plants under chromium stress was studied in a hydroponic experiment. The treatments comprised three chromium concentrations (0, 75, and 100 μM) and three N forms (NH₄)₂SO₄, urea, and Ca(NO₃)₂. In comparison with the urea or (NH₄)₂SO₄ fed plants, the Ca(NO₃)₂ fed plants had higher net photosynthetic rate, intercellular CO₂ concentration, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthetically active radiation utilization efficiency, variable...

Low irradiance alters carbon metabolism and delays flower stalk development in two orchids

P. H. Wu, C. H. Liu, K. M. Tseng, Y. C. Liu, C. C. Chen, P. P. Yang, Y. X. Huang, W. H. Chen, H. L. Wang

Biologia plantarum 57:764-768, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0340-2

In Phalaenopsis, lowering irradiance has been used to delay flower stalk development but the accompanying biochemical changes remain poorly understood. We cultured two commercial Phalaenopsis-type orchids, Phalaenopsis cv. Sogo Yukidian V3, and Doritaneopsis cv. Walnut Valley Halo ES09 under reduced irradiance by under-bench shading (approximately 15 % of mean control irradiance) for 15 weeks in a greenhouse under the natural photoperiod. Besides delaying flower stalk development as expected, the treatment greatly decreased the activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase,...

Effect of irradiance during acclimatization on content of proline and phytohormones in micropropagated Ulmus minor

M. C. Dias, G. Pinto, C. Guerra, C. Jesus, J. Amaral, C. Santos

Biologia plantarum 57:769-772, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0341-1

This study aimed to investigate the effects of irradiance on plant growth and content of proline and phytohormones during ex vitro acclimatization of micropropagated Ulmus minor plants. In vitro rooted plants were acclimatized to ex vitro conditions in a climate chamber with two irradiances, 200 μmol m^-2 s^-1 (high irradiance, HI) and 100 μmol m^-2 s^-1 (low irradiance, LI) for 40 d. Immediately after the ex vitro transfer, the plants experienced a water deficit [wilting leaves with the reduced relative water content (RWC)], but following the experiment, the recovery...

Gas exchange of root hemi-parasite Striga hermonthica and its host Sorghum bicolor under short-term soil water stress

T. Inoue, Y. Yamauchi, A. H. Eltayeb, H. Samejima, A. G. T. Babiker, Y. Sugimoto

Biologia plantarum 57:773-777, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0348-7

The gas exchange of the upper fully expanded leaf of the root parasite Striga hermonthica and of its host Sorghum bicolor was measured under wet and dry conditions to identify the mechanisms of the devastating effects of the parasite on its hosts under drought. The short-term water stress severely reduced photosynthetic rate in infected sorghum, but less in S. hermonthica. Soil water stress did not affect leaf respiration rate in either S. hermonthica or infected sorghum. This suggests that under dry conditions both infected sorghum and S. hermonthica decreased autotrophic carbon gain. The transpiration rate of S....

Activity of antioxidant enzymes and secondary metabolites during in vitro regeneration of Sterculia urens

P. Subhashini Devi, B. Satyanarayana, A. Arundhati, T. Raghava Rao

Biologia plantarum 57:778-782, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0337-x

The changes in the activities of antioxidant enzymes and amounts of proteins, phenols, and flavonoids in regenerating and non-regenerating calli during organogenesis of Sterculia urens were monitored. Maximum growth of calli and the most efficient regeneration of shoots occurred on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.5 mg dm^-3 benzylaminopurine (BAP) + 2 or 4 mg dm^-3 naphtalene acetic acid (NAA). Peroxidase (POD), catalase, and superoxide dismutase activities increased in the regenerating calli but decreased in the non-regenerating calli. Six POD isoenzymes were detected. Protein content decreased in the...

Zinc induces DNA damage in tobacco roots

D. Procházková, N. Wilhelmová, D. Pavlíková, J. Száková, T. Gichner

Biologia plantarum 57:783-787, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0345-x

We applied the alkaline version of the single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) to seedlings of heterozygous tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. var. xanthi) treated with zinc acetate dihydrate (20 to 80 mM Zn²⁺ for 2 h or 2 to 12 mM Zn²⁺ for 24 h). A dose dependent increase in DNA damage expressed by the tail moment values were observed in nuclei isolated from the roots after 2 and 24 h Zn²⁺ treatments. In contrast, Zn²⁺ did not induce significant DNA damage to leaf nuclei, with the exception of 10 or 12 mM Zn²⁺ for 24 h. Somatic mutations, identified as dark green, yellow, and dark...

Effects of pH and nitrogen on cadmium uptake in potato

E. H. Larsson Jönsson, H. Asp

Biologia plantarum 57:788-792, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0354-9

This study investigated the effects of pH and nitrogen form and concentration on cadmium (Cd) uptake by potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown in hydroponic culture. Potato plants grown in a pH-buffered nutrient solution for 10 d were exposed for 24 h to 25 nM CdCl₂ labelled with ¹⁰⁹Cd. Plants showed a significantly higher Cd uptake and accumulation at pH 6.5 than at pH 4.5 and 5.5. Nitrogen supplied as nitrate (NO₃ ^-) generally resulted in a higher Cd uptake and accumulation than N supplied as ammonium (NH₄ ⁺). This effect was most pronounced at pH 6.5. The N concentration increasing...

Chloroplast ultrastructure of Hypericum perforatum plants regenerated in vitro after cryopreservation

D. Stoyanova-Koleva, M. Stefanova, E. Čellárová, V. Kapchina-Toteva

Biologia plantarum 57:793-796, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0357-6

The ultrastructure of leaf mesophyll cells of in vitro cultured Hypericum perforatum L. plants regenerated after cryopreservation was studied. Electron microscopy analysis revealed that the chloroplasts in plants pretreated with abscisic acid and regenerated after cryopreservation were round, with increased amount of starch, rather small volume of the thylakoid system, and destroyed envelope. Plants pretreated with 0.3 M mannitol and cooled at rates of 0.1 or 0.3 °C min^-1 possessed chloroplasts with high starch content that resulted in a reduction of a membrane system. However, the pretreatment with 0.3 M mannitol and cooling...

Changes of dehydrin profiles induced by drought in winter wheat at different developmental stages

H. M. Zhang, L. S. Zhang, L. Liu, W. N. Zhu, W. B. Yang

Biologia plantarum 57:797-800, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0361-x

Two cultivars of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) differing in their drought tolerance (KTC86211 and ND7532) were subjected to a progressive soil water stress and recovery at four developmental stages. Dehydrins with molecular masses of 45 and 37 kDa were constitutively accumulated during all stages in both genotypes. The 28 kDa dehydrin accumulated exclusively at seedling stage in both genotypes. The 49 and 40 kDa dehydrins accumulated at both tillering and jointing stages but showed a genotype-specific pattern. The content of most dehydrins increased with decreased soil moisture and then decreased during recovery. These results suggest...

Miloš Ondřej Member of Editorial Board 1940-2012

Slavomír Rakouský

Biologia plantarum 57:601-602, 2013 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-013-0350-0