Root endophytic fungus Serendipita indica modulates barley leaf blade proteome by increasing the abundance of photosynthetic proteins in response to salinity

Abstract

Aims The present study aimed at analysing the proteome pattern of the leaf blade of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in Serendipita indica‐colonised plants to decipher the molecular mechanism of S. indica‐mediated salt stress. This work is aligned with our previous research on barley leaf sheath to study proteomic pattern variability in leaf blade and sheath of barley plant in response to salinity and S. indica inoculation. Methods and Results The experiment was conducted using a completely randomised factorial design with four replications and two treatments: salinity (0 and 300 mmol l−1 NaCl) and fungus (noninoculated and S. indica‐inoculated). The leaf blades of the salt‐treated S. indica‐colonised and noninoculated plants were harvested after 2 weeks of salt treatment for the physiological and proteomic analyses. After exposure to 300 mmol l−1 NaCl, shoot dry matter production in noninoculated control plants decreased 84% which was about twofold higher than inoculated plants with S. indica. However, the accumulation of sodium in the shoot of S. indica‐inoculated plants was significantly lower than the control plants. Analysis of the proteome profile revealed a high number of significantly up‐regulated proteins involved in photosynthesis (26 out of 42 identified proteins). Conclusions The results demonstrated how the enhanced plant growth and salt stress resistance induced by S. indica was positively associated with the up‐regulation of several proteins involved in photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. In fact, S. indica improved photosynthesis in order to reach the best possible performance of the host plant under salt stress. Significance and Impact of the Study Current research provides new insight into the mechanism applied by S. indica in reducing the negative impacts of salt stress in barley at physiological and molecular levels.

Enhancing growth and salinity stress tolerance of date palm using Piriformospora indica

“…In accordance with the current results, it has also been reported that P. indica-colonized barley cultivated under 300 mM NaCl had enhanced K + and lower Na + ion content in the leaves, as compared with non-colonized plants (Deshmukh et al, 2006). Furthermore, decline in the Na + content with the P. indica cocultivation of Arabidopsis and barley were also reported under salt stress (Lanza et al, 2019;Sepehri et al, 2021). In relation to the present study, increased K + ion content in the shoots of tomato plants inoculated with P. indica was also associated with its salinity tolerance (Yun et al, 2018).…”

Piriformospora indica and Azotobacter chroococcum Consortium Facilitates Higher Acquisition of N, P with Improved Carbon Allocation and Enhanced Plant Growth in Oryza sativa

“…Furthermore, nitrogen metabolism, carbon fixation, and glyoxylate metabolism was also significantly enriched, and a similar observation was made in barley under salt stress in the presence of endophytic fungus [ 47 ]. Besides the proteins involved in nitrogen metabolism, many other proteins were also differentially expressed, including phosphoesterase, calcium-dependent protein kinases, pathogenesis-related proteins, peroxidases, multicopper oxidase, chitinase, aminotransferase, and o-methyltransferase.…”

Understanding the potential of root microbiome influencing salt‐tolerance in plants and mechanisms involved at the transcriptional and translational level

“…LHC‐I, LHC‐II, PSBO (oxygen‐evolving enhancer protein 1), PSAK (photosystem I reaction center subunit K), PSAG (photosystem I reaction center subunit V), and so forth, in barley indicated toward the protective role of the mutualistic interaction of the fungal endophyte with the barley roots. Similarly, the endophyte fungus— Serendipita indica was shown to enhance the proteins associated with carbohydrate metabolism and photosynthesis in barley plants under salinity stress (Sepehri et al, 2021).…”