Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Mediated Alleviation of Drought Stress via Non-Enzymatic Antioxidants: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Drought stress constrains plant cell metabolism and induces the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In response to drought stress, plants induce a series of physiological and biochemical changes, scavenging ROS. Among soil microbes, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are found to be effective ameliorators of ROS under drought-stress conditions. However, the comprehensive roles of the oxidative stress ameliorators mediated by AMF in alleviating drought stress are not studied in detail. The present study aims to determine the oxidative stress ameliorators using meta-analysis highlighting AMF inoculation efficacy on drought stress alleviation. The results confirmed that AMF inoculation had a significant reduction in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), and electrolyte leakage (EL). Nevertheless, proline accumulation was found to have a non-significant correlation with AMF inoculation. Further, carotenoids and soluble sugars increased positively in AMF-inoculated plants under drought stress and there was a subsequent reduction of abscisic acid (ABA). The results of the meta-analysis reveal the benefits of AMF inoculation with reduced H2O2 levels leading to reduced lipid peroxidation (MDA) and increased membrane stability (EL). Thus, the present assessment reveals the sequence of events involved in eliciting drought stress alleviation due to AMF inoculation.

The role of mycorrhizal fungi on physiology and biochemistry of Salvia hispanica L. grown under different soil pH

“…Hu et al [53] also reported that mycorrhizal plants had lower levels of malondialdehyde than non-mycorrhizal plants, which is in line with our data. In agreement are also, the results of Chandrasekaran [54] which clearly showed that AMF inoculation decreased the level of H2O2, which, in turn, reduced lipid peroxidation by MDA content and membrane stability by the reduced level of EL. Moreover, AMF plants induced high levels of carotenoids, which enhanced their soluble sugars and ABA levels better and faster than non-AM plants.…”

Physiological and Enzymatic Antioxidant Responses of Solanum tuberosum Leaves to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Inoculation under Water Stress

“…Regarding the carotenoid concentrations, for the VR808 genotype, the concentration levels tended to decrease by 86.8% and 84.4% in the NM and MIX treatments, respectively, under the S2 drought level compared to those in the same inoculation treatment without stress (S0). In contrast, meta-analyses have shown that concentrations increase with inoculation and the application of water stress and that the percentage of this increase depends on the level of stress applied [ 45 ].…”

Colonization of root endophytic fungus Serendipita indica improves drought tolerance of Pinus taeda seedlings by regulating metabolome and proteome

“…As functions of symbiosis of mycorrhizal fungi (Chandrasekaran, 2022;Begum et al, 2023;Zou et al, 2023), plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) (Shankar and Prasad, 2023;Tanveer et al, 2023;Zhao et al, 2023), and dark septate endophytes (DSE) (Li et al, 2022;He C. et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2023) during drought stress, root endophytic fungi also play important roles in increasing tolerance to drought stress of their host plants (Azevedo et al, 2021;Manzur et al, 2022;Zuo et al, 2022). S. indica is also a root endophytic fungus, and it improves drought tolerance of their host plants, as described above.…”