Contribution of trehalose biosynthetic pathway to drought stress tolerance of Capparis ovata Desf

Abstract

Trehalose and the trehalose biosynthetic pathway are important contributors and regulators of stress responses in plants. Among recent findings for trehalose and its metabolism, the role of signalling in the regulation of growth and development and its potential for use as a storage energy source can be listed. The xerophytic plant Capparis ovata (caper) is well adapted to drought and high temperature stress in arid and semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean. The contribution of trehalose and the trehalose biosynthetic pathway to drought stress responses and tolerance in C. ovata are not known. We investigated the effects of PEG-mediated drought stress in caper plants and analysed physiological parameters and trehalose biosynthetic pathway components, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS), trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP), trehalase activity, trehalose and proline content in drought stress-treated and untreated plants. Our results indicated that trehalose and the trehalose biosynthetic pathway contributed to drought stress tolerance of C. ovata. Overall growth and leaf water status were not dramatically affected by drought, as both high relative growth rate and relative water content were recorded even after 14 days of drought stress. Trehalose accumulation increased in parallel to induced TPS and TPP activities and decreased trehalase activity in caper plants on day 14. Constitutive trehalose levels were 28.75 to 74.75 μg·g·FW(-1) , and drought stress significantly induced trehalose accumulation (385.25 μg·g·FW(-1) on day 14) in leaves of caper. On day 14 of drought, proline levels were lower than on day 7. Under drought stress the discrepancy between trehalose and proline accumulation trends might result from the mode of action of these osmoprotectant molecules in C. ovata.

Prominent alterations of wild barley leaf transcriptome in response to individual and combined drought acclimation and heat shock conditions

“…As such, these fundamental antioxidant and oligosaccharide signaling mechanisms would contribute to biotic and abiotic tolerance in plants. Trehalose is found in organisms such as bacteria, fungi, animals and plants, like Arabidopsis, rice and tobacco, and believed to act as stress protectant molecule (Elbein , Ilhan et al ). These functions have mainly been substituted by sucrose in vascular plants, while recent findings confirmed that the intermediate compound – trehalose‐6‐phosphate – acts as a sensor and controller for available sucrose level in the plants (Lunn et al ).…”

Different adaptation strategies of two citrus scion/rootstock combinations in response to drought stress

“…Both genes are involved in the biosynthesis pathway of trehalose, a non-reducing disaccharide known to be a stress protectant molecule found in several organisms including plants. Generally the constitutive level of trehalose in plant cells is not very high; therefore, it is believed to act as a signaling molecule under stress conditions [74]. In V/2xRL plants, several TPS proteins were identified as bottleneck in the network centrality analysis (Table 1, S2 Table).…”

Metabolomics Characterization of Two Apocynaceae Plants, Catharanthus roseus and Vinca minor, Using GC-MS and LC-MS Methods in Combination

“…In our study, some characteristic sugars that could affect the morphology of leaf were detected, displaying significant species-specific accumulation pattern ( Table 2 ). Trehalose is actively associated with the physiological parameters of plant leaves and limits the growth and development of leaves [ 32 ]. Trehalose has been suggested as a regulatory component in the control of glycolytic flux and in a variety of stress survival strategies [ 30 ].…”

“…Our result showed that raffinose and trehalose, which are recognized to promote plant resistance to cold conditions, were both largely accumulated in V. minor based on the GC-MS results. Trehalose is reported to help maintain a glassy structure under extreme temperatures and increases the stability of biomolecules [ 32 ]. The changes of raffinose level involve a series of fluctuations of raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOS) metabolism ( Table 2 ).…”