Physiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying the role of anthocyanin in acquired tolerance to salt stress in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Abstract

Anthocyanin is an important pigment that prevents oxidative stress and mediates adaptation of plants to salt stress. Peanuts with dark red and black testa are rich in anthocyanin. However, correlation between salt tolerance and anthocyanin content in black and dark red testa peanuts is unknown. In this study, three peanut cultivars namely YZ9102 (pink testa), JHR1 (red testa) and JHB1 (black testa) were subjected to sodium chloride (NaCl) stress. The plant growth, ion uptake, anthocyanin accumulation, oxidation resistance and photosynthetic traits were comparatively analyzed. We observed that the plant height, leaf area and biomass under salt stress was highly inhibited in pink color testa (YZ9102) as compare to black color testa (JHB1). JHB1, a black testa colored peanut was identified as the most salt-tolerance cultivar, followed by red (JHR1) and pink(YZ9102). During salt stress, JHB1 exhibited significantly higher levels of anthocyanin and flavonoid accumulation compared to JHR1 and YZ9102, along with increased relative activities of antioxidant protection and photosynthetic efficiency. However, the K+/Na+ and Ca2+/Na+ were consistently decreased among three cultivars under salt stress, suggesting that the salt tolerance of black testa peanut may not be related to ion absorption. Therefore, we predicted that salt tolerance of JHB1 may be attributed to the accumulation of the anthocyanin and flavonoids, which activated antioxidant protection against the oxidative damage to maintain the higher photosynthetic efficiency and plant growth. These findings will be useful for improving salt tolerance of peanuts.

Melatonin induces proline, secondary metabolites, sugars and antioxidants activity to regulate oxidative stress and ROS scavenging in salt stressed sword lily

“…6 A). Similar results have been observed in Brassica napus [ 56 ], pea [ 57 ], and peanut [ 52 ], where the contents of total flavonoid and anthocyanin compounds showed a remarkable increase in tolerance to SS. Application of MT further boosted the level of flavonoids in sword lily, and maximum accumulation was noted in response to MT3 ( Fig.…”

“…Anthocyanin, an essential pigment, helps plants adapt to SS by preventing oxidative stress [ 52 ]. In the present study, SS induced anthocyanin accumulation in sword lily ( Fig.…”