Glutathione, carbohydrate and other metabolites of Larix olgensis A. Henry reponse to polyethylene glycol-simulated drought stress

Abstract

Drought stress in trees limits their growth, survival, and productivity and it negatively affects the afforestation survival rate. Our study focused on the molecular responses to drought stress in a coniferous species Larix olgensis A. Henry. Drought stress was simulated in one-year-old seedlings using 25% polyethylene glycol 6000. The drought stress response in these seedlings was assessed by analyzing select biochemical parameters, along with gene expression and metabolite profiles. The soluble protein content, peroxidase activity, and malondialdehyde content of L. olgensis were significantly changed during drought stress. Quantitative gene expression analysis identified a total of 8172 differentially expressed genes in seedlings processed after 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h of drought stress treatment. Compared with the gene expression profile of the untreated control, the number of up-regulated genes was higher than that of down-regulated genes, indicating that L. olgensis mainly responded to drought stress through positive regulation. Metabolite analysis of the control and stress-treated samples showed that under drought stress, the increased abundance of linoleic acid was the highest among up-regulated metabolites, which also included some saccharides. A combined analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome revealed that genes dominating the differential expression profile were involved in glutathione metabolism, galactose metabolism, and starch and sucrose metabolism. Moreover, the relative abundance of specific metabolites of these pathways was also altered. Thus, our results indicated that L. olgensis prevented free radical-induced damage through glutathione metabolism and responded to drought through sugar accumulation.

Salt Priming as a Smart Approach to Mitigate Salt Stress in Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.)

“…In agreement with our results, the SPS gene was upregulated in response to salt stress in Medicago truncatula [81], Gobindobhog rice [82], and Citrus aurantium [83]. Similar to our results, the upregulation of the RDS-M gene, accompanied with increase in lipid peroxidation, was recorded in Larix olgensis under drought stress [80].…”

“…In agreement with our results, Amini and Ehsanpour [79] documented the upregulation of the LAP gene in tomato leaves exposed to salt stress. The increase in LAP transcript abundance was also recorded in response to oxidative stress associated with drought in Larix olgensis [80].…”

Insights from a Multi-Omics Integration (MOI) Study in Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Response to Abiotic Stresses: Part Two—Drought

“…Stachyose synthetase (XP_010931766.1) is the enzyme that showed to most opposite behavior, downregulated under salt stress (Log 2 (FC) = −5.5) and upregulated in drought (Log 2 (FC) = 4.9). This enzyme catalyzes the reaction that produces myo-inositol plus stachyose from alpha-D-Galactosyl-(1->3)-1D-myo-inositol and Raffinose and was regulated positively in the drought-tolerant conifer Larix olgensis A. Henry under PEG-simulated drought stress [ 35 ]. According to Okemo et al [ 36 ], the shoots of Tripogon loliiformis —an Australian resurrection plant—accumulated stachyose synthase transcripts and stachyose during drought stress.…”

Physiological Characteristic Changes and Transcriptome Analysis of Maize (Zea mays L.) Roots under Drought Stress

“…It is important to explore the molecular regulation of drought stress in maize. Meanwhile, a total of 11 drought stress-associated DEGs were annotated as late embryogenesis abundant protein genes, which were largely expressed at polyethylene glycol-simulated drought stress [ 16 ].…”