Drought-Responsive Antioxidant Enzymes in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is highly sensitive to soil drought and extracts less of the available water from the soil than other crops. Even a very short period of water shortage has a negative effect on consumptive and technological properties of potato tubers. The cause of the poorer properties of potato tubers might not only be water shortage itself but could also be the enhanced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accompanying practically every kind of stress, both biotic and abiotic. However, antioxidative enzymes seem to counteract the ROS accumulation and, thus, might protect plants against the deleterious effects of environmental stresses. Our research shows that increased activity of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase protects plants from oxidative stress, and, consequently, against yield losses.

ROS as Signaling Molecules and Enzymes of Plant Response to Unfavorable Environmental Conditions

“…The present experiments and those made earlier (Boguszewska et al, 2010) showed that the yield of potato tubers (agricultural yield) dependend more on the regeneration ability of rewatered plants after soil drought treatments than on the water loss from the leaves. Although leaf relative water content (RWC) is considered a reliable and widely-used indicator of the plant sensitivity to dehydration (Rampino et al, 2006, Sanchez-Rodriguez et al, 2010, the correlation between RWC in leaves of ten potato cultivars investigated and yield decrease was poor.…”

“…An increase in SOD activity under diverse abiotic stresses has been shown in several plants (Gill & Tuteja 2010). In extracts obtained from potato cultivars, three activity bands of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were observed (Boguszewska et al, 2010). In the case of two other potato cultivars, the similar pattern of SOD activity bands was observed (Fig.…”

“…The up regulation of SODs has been observed in plants subjected to both abiotic (Boguszewska et al 2010) and biotic stresses (Torres 2010, Świątek et al, submitted for publication). Overexpression of SODs in transgenic plants resulted in higher salt or drought tolerance (Badawi et al, 2004).…”

“…Catalase is a light-sensitive protein that has a high rate of turnover and environmental stresses which reduce the rate of protein turnover, such as salinity, heat shock or cold, cause the depletion of catalase activity. This may have significance in the plant's ability to tolerate the oxidative components of these environmental stresses (Boguszewska et al, 2010, Mhamdi et al, 2010. However, the response of CAT2 to soil drought differed from that of mite-infestation.…”

“…The involvement of antioxidant enzymes in limitation of ROS production has been examined in potato cultivars differing in the drought tolerance (Boguszewska et al, 2010). Additionally, it has been interested whether the ROS-itscavenging antioxidant enzymes may be critical for protecting plants against water deficiency in the soil and/or whether they may be responsible for the timely activation of the accliamatory response.…”