ROS-mediated abiotic stress-induced programmed cell death in plants

Abstract

During the course of their ontogenesis plants are continuously exposed to a large variety of abiotic stress factors which can damage tissues and jeopardize the survival of the organism unless properly countered. While animals can simply escape and thus evade stressors, plants as sessile organisms have developed complex strategies to withstand them. When the intensity of a detrimental factor is high, one of the defense programs employed by plants is the induction of programmed cell death (PCD). This is an active, genetically controlled process which is initiated to isolate and remove damaged tissues thereby ensuring the survival of the organism. The mechanism of PCD induction usually includes an increase in the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are utilized as mediators of the stress signal. Abiotic stress-induced PCD is not only a process of fundamental biological importance, but also of considerable interest to agricultural practice as it has the potential to significantly influence crop yield. Therefore, numerous scientific enterprises have focused on elucidating the mechanisms leading to and controlling PCD in response to adverse conditions in plants. This knowledge may help develop novel strategies to obtain more resilient crop varieties with improved tolerance and enhanced productivity. The aim of the present review is to summarize the recent advances in research on ROS-induced PCD related to abiotic stress and the role of the organelles in the process.

Lipid Peroxide-Derived Short-Chain Carbonyls Mediate Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced and Salt-Induced Programmed Cell Death in Plants

“…NaCl treatment also activates polyamine oxidase, which catalyzes the production of H 2 O 2 in the oxidation of spermine and spermidine. Thus, NaCl treatment also imposes H 2 O 2 stress on plant cells (Petrov et al, 2015). When they were stressed, both cultured cells and root cells showed TUNEL-positive nuclei, cytosolic retraction, and DNA laddering, which are typical of apoptosis-like PCD (Reape and McCabe, 2008).…”

“…ROS-induced cell death in plants has been demonstrated for various environmental stressors (Mittler et al, 2011;Petrov et al, 2015). In this study, we investigated the cell death induced by H 2 O 2 and NaCl.…”

Singlet Oxygen Plays an Essential Role in the Root’s Response to Osmotic Stress

“…This can result in increased toxic singlet oxygen production in the chloroplast (Gechev et al, 2012). Furthermore, photoinhibitory conditions in the chloroplast stimulated by drought and high light were shown to promote multiple types of ROS due to reduced chloroplast-scavenging capabilities (Petrov et al, 2015;Feller, 2016). Perturbation of mitochondrial electron transport in drought also contributes to ROS production (Rhoads et al, 2006).…”

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“…As a result of which plant cells rapidly accumulate reactive oxygen species (ROS), a phenomenon, widely known as the "oxidative burst" that has an important role in inducing signaling events and is dependent on enzymes located in several subcellular compartments [2]. It is essential to keep a tight rein on the ROS production in a coordinated manner via many enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways as excess production of ROS accelerates uncontrolled oxidation resulting in lipid peroxidation in cellular membranes, DNA damage, protein denaturation, carbohydrate oxidation, pigment breakdown, an impairment of enzymatic activity and ultimately leads to cell death [3,4]. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) are vital enzymes that participate in "keeping active oxygen under control".…”