Ethanol Enhances High-Salinity Stress Tolerance by Detoxifying Reactive Oxygen Species in Arabidopsis thaliana and Rice

Abstract

High-salinity stress considerably affects plant growth and crop yield. Thus, developing techniques to enhance high-salinity stress tolerance in plants is important. In this study, we revealed that ethanol enhances high-salinity stress tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana and rice. To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the ethanol-induced tolerance, we performed microarray analyses using A. thaliana seedlings. Our data indicated that the expression levels of 1,323 and 1,293 genes were upregulated by ethanol in the presence and absence of NaCl, respectively. The expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling-related genes associated with high-salinity tolerance was upregulated by ethanol under salt stress condition. Some of these genes encode ROS scavengers and transcription factors (e.g., AtZAT10 and AtZAT12). A RT-qPCR analysis confirmed that the expression levels of AtZAT10 and AtZAT12 as well as AtAPX1 and AtAPX2, which encode cytosolic ascorbate peroxidases (APX), were higher in ethanol-treated plants than in untreated control plants, when exposure to high-salinity stress. Additionally, A. thaliana cytosolic APX activity increased by ethanol in response to salinity stress. Moreover, histochemical analyses with 3,3′-diaminobenzidine (DAB) and nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) revealed that ROS accumulation was inhibited by ethanol under salt stress condition in A. thaliana and rice, in which DAB staining data was further confirmed by Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content. These results suggest that ethanol enhances high-salinity stress tolerance by detoxifying ROS. Our findings may have implications for improving salt-stress tolerance of agriculturally important field-grown crops.

Treatment of Sweet Pepper with Stress Tolerance-Inducing Compounds Alleviates Salinity Stress Oxidative Damage by Mediating the Physio-Biochemical Activities and Antioxidant Systems

“…Numerous studies have found that implementing exogenous chemicals improves salt stress tolerance in plants [13]; examples of such chemicals are phytohormones such as salicylic acid, sterols, and methyl jasmonate [2,14]. Other chemicals such as polyamines, melatonin, and sodium nitroprusside have also been used to enhance the tolerance of various crop plants to saline conditions [15].…”

Knockout of the OsNAC006 Transcription Factor Causes Drought and Heat Sensitivity in Rice

“…Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important food crops for humans, and different abiotic stresses can affect plant growth and crop performance [1,2]. Salinity stress has a strong negative influence on plant growth [3,4]. Drought represents an extreme environment, and causes irreversible damage to rice growth and lowers crop yield and quality [5][6][7].…”

A dicistronic precursor encoding miR398 and the legume‐specific miR2119 coregulates CSD1 and ADH1 mRNAs in response to water deficit

“…In this way, ADH1 activity could be coordinated with CSD1 activity to modulate the levels of NAD + and other redox molecules involved in maintaining an appropriate balance under stress conditions. Additionally, ethanol produced by ADH1 activity could serve as a signal to bolster plant responses to water deficit, as it has recently been suggested for Arabidopsis, where addition of external ethanol helped plants to better cope with saline stress conditions, by enhancing gene regulation responses and ROS scavenging activities (Nguyen et al, ).…”