Root Proteomics Reveals the Effects of Wood Vinegar on Wheat Growth and Subsequent Tolerance to Drought Stress

Abstract

Wood vinegar (WV) or pyroligneous acid (PA) is a reddish-brown liquid created during the dry distillation of biomass, a process called pyrolysis. WV contains important biologically active components, which can enhance plant growth and tolerance to drought stress. However, its mechanism of action remains unknown. Our results after presoaking wheat seeds with various concentrations of WV indicate that a 1:900 WV concentration can significantly enhance growth. To investigate the response of wheat roots to drought stress, we compared quantitative proteomic profiles in the roots of wheat plants grown from seeds either presoaked (treatment) or non-presoaked (control) with WV. Our results indicated that the abscisic acid (ABA) content of wheat roots in the WV treatment was significantly increased. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malonaldehyde (MDA) levels roots were significantly lower than in the control treatment under drought stress, while the activity of major antioxidant enzymes was significantly increased. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) identified 138 differentially accumulated protein (DAP) spots representing 103 unique protein species responding to drought stress in wheat roots of the control and WV-treated groups. These DAPs are mostly involved in the stress response, carbohydrate metabolism, protein metabolism, and secondary metabolism. Proteome profiles showed the DAPs involved in carbohydrate metabolism, stress response, and secondary metabolism had increased accumulation in roots of the WV-treated groups. These findings suggest that the roots from wheat seeds presoaked with WV can initiate an early defense mechanism to mitigate drought stress. These results provide an explanation of how WV enhances the tolerance of wheat plants to drought stress.

Cytological and Proteomic Analysis of Wheat Pollen Abortion Induced by Chemical Hybridization Agent

“…This suggested the existence of isoforms and posttranslational modification. Similar results were also found in others [24,33]. Taken together, the 60 identities represented 49 unique proteins (Tables S2 and S4).…”

“…In particular, high temperature [16,17], low temperature [18,19], drought [20], and water-stress [21] can result in male sterility in crops, including Hordeum vulgare [22], Oryza sativa [23], Triticum aestivum [18]. Meanwhile, proteomics is a powerful approach to study the molecular processes of pollen development, and also a powerful complement to the whole genome sequencing [24]. Based on the proteins identified in this work, a detailed pathway was successfully constructed and protein-protein interactions were more clearly understood [25].…”

Protein and Proteome Atlas for Plants under Stresses: New Highlights and Ways for Integrated Omics in Post-Genomics Era

“…Furthermore, proteomics analyses of different plants under both salinity and drought stresses were conducted to find the osmotic response proteins [12,13,14,15,16,17]. Drought and salinity are two serious kinds of osmotic stresses that inhibit plant growth and crop yields.…”

“…In another drought-tolerant wheat variety, 335 drought-responsive proteins were found to mainly take part in photosynthesis, carbon fixation, and glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism [13]. In addition, a comparative analysis of filling-kernel proteomes from two maize inbred lines with different drought-tolerant ability identified 5175 drought-responsive proteins [14]. Proteomics study implied that wood vinegar treatment can enhance the drought tolerance of wheat root through promoting stress response, carbohydrate metabolism, protein metabolism, and secondary metabolism [15].…”

Investigating the tomato tolerance to cadmium (Cd) via high throughput proteomics

“…Studies have shown that peroxidase abundance and activity of peroxidase increased significantly in tomato roots under Cd stress (Borges, 2018). Research with wheat were observer variation in peroxidases and other proteins involved in the scavenging mechanisms in response to drug stress in as well (Wang et al, 2019b).…”