Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene Expression
Drought represents one of the most relevant abiotic stress affecting growth and yield of crop plants. In order to improve the agricultural productivity within the limited water and land resources, it is mandatory to increase crop yields in presence of unfavorable environmental stresses. The use of b...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-08-01
|
Series: | Frontiers in Plant Science |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.01362/full |
id |
doaj-641169b185904557a01124613b9403a8 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-641169b185904557a01124613b9403a82020-11-24T21:29:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Plant Science1664-462X2017-08-01810.3389/fpls.2017.01362275332Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene ExpressionAntonietta Santaniello0Andrea Scartazza1Francesco Gresta2Elena Loreti3Alessandro Biasone4Donatella Di Tommaso5Alberto Piaggesi6Pierdomenico Perata7Plant Lab, Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant’AnnaPisa, ItalyInstitute of Agroenvironmental and Forest Biology, Consiglio Nazionale delle RicercheRome, ItalyPlant Lab, Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant’AnnaPisa, ItalyInstitute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology, Consiglio Nazionale delle RicerchePisa, ItalyGlobal R&D, Valagro SpAAtessa, ItalyGlobal R&D, Valagro SpAAtessa, ItalyGlobal R&D, Valagro SpAAtessa, ItalyPlant Lab, Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant’AnnaPisa, ItalyDrought represents one of the most relevant abiotic stress affecting growth and yield of crop plants. In order to improve the agricultural productivity within the limited water and land resources, it is mandatory to increase crop yields in presence of unfavorable environmental stresses. The use of biostimulants, often containing seaweed extracts, represents one of the options for farmers willing to alleviate abiotic stress consequences on crops. In this work, we investigated the responses of Arabidopsis plants treated with an extract from the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum (ANE), under drought stress conditions, demonstrating that ANE positively influences Arabidopsis survival. Pre-treatment with ANE induced a partial stomatal closure, associated with changes in the expression levels of genes involved in ABA-responsive and antioxidant system pathways. The pre-activation of these pathways results in a stronger ability of ANE-treated plants to maintain a better photosynthetic performance compared to untreated plants throughout the dehydration period, combined with a higher capacity to dissipate the excess of energy as heat in the reaction centers of photosystem II. Our results suggest that drought stressed plants treated with ANE are able to maintain a strong stomatal control and relatively higher values of both water use efficiency (WUE) and mesophyll conductance during the last phase of dehydration. Simultaneously, the activation of a pre-induced antioxidant defense system, in combination with a more efficient energy dissipation mechanism, prevents irreversible damages to the photosynthetic apparatus. In conclusion, pre-treatment with ANE is effective to acclimate plants to the incoming stress, promoting an increased WUE and dehydration tolerance.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.01362/fullantioxidantsdrought tolerancegas exchangesmesophyll conductancenon-photochemical quenchingphotochemical efficiency |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Antonietta Santaniello Andrea Scartazza Francesco Gresta Elena Loreti Alessandro Biasone Donatella Di Tommaso Alberto Piaggesi Pierdomenico Perata |
spellingShingle |
Antonietta Santaniello Andrea Scartazza Francesco Gresta Elena Loreti Alessandro Biasone Donatella Di Tommaso Alberto Piaggesi Pierdomenico Perata Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene Expression Frontiers in Plant Science antioxidants drought tolerance gas exchanges mesophyll conductance non-photochemical quenching photochemical efficiency |
author_facet |
Antonietta Santaniello Andrea Scartazza Francesco Gresta Elena Loreti Alessandro Biasone Donatella Di Tommaso Alberto Piaggesi Pierdomenico Perata |
author_sort |
Antonietta Santaniello |
title |
Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene Expression |
title_short |
Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene Expression |
title_full |
Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene Expression |
title_fullStr |
Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene Expression |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ascophyllum nodosum Seaweed Extract Alleviates Drought Stress in Arabidopsis by Affecting Photosynthetic Performance and Related Gene Expression |
title_sort |
ascophyllum nodosum seaweed extract alleviates drought stress in arabidopsis by affecting photosynthetic performance and related gene expression |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Plant Science |
issn |
1664-462X |
publishDate |
2017-08-01 |
description |
Drought represents one of the most relevant abiotic stress affecting growth and yield of crop plants. In order to improve the agricultural productivity within the limited water and land resources, it is mandatory to increase crop yields in presence of unfavorable environmental stresses. The use of biostimulants, often containing seaweed extracts, represents one of the options for farmers willing to alleviate abiotic stress consequences on crops. In this work, we investigated the responses of Arabidopsis plants treated with an extract from the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum (ANE), under drought stress conditions, demonstrating that ANE positively influences Arabidopsis survival. Pre-treatment with ANE induced a partial stomatal closure, associated with changes in the expression levels of genes involved in ABA-responsive and antioxidant system pathways. The pre-activation of these pathways results in a stronger ability of ANE-treated plants to maintain a better photosynthetic performance compared to untreated plants throughout the dehydration period, combined with a higher capacity to dissipate the excess of energy as heat in the reaction centers of photosystem II. Our results suggest that drought stressed plants treated with ANE are able to maintain a strong stomatal control and relatively higher values of both water use efficiency (WUE) and mesophyll conductance during the last phase of dehydration. Simultaneously, the activation of a pre-induced antioxidant defense system, in combination with a more efficient energy dissipation mechanism, prevents irreversible damages to the photosynthetic apparatus. In conclusion, pre-treatment with ANE is effective to acclimate plants to the incoming stress, promoting an increased WUE and dehydration tolerance. |
topic |
antioxidants drought tolerance gas exchanges mesophyll conductance non-photochemical quenching photochemical efficiency |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.01362/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT antoniettasantaniello ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression AT andreascartazza ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression AT francescogresta ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression AT elenaloreti ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression AT alessandrobiasone ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression AT donatelladitommaso ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression AT albertopiaggesi ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression AT pierdomenicoperata ascophyllumnodosumseaweedextractalleviatesdroughtstressinarabidopsisbyaffectingphotosyntheticperformanceandrelatedgeneexpression |
_version_ |
1725966505980461056 |