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Abiotic Stress: Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms for Adaptation in Fruit Plant

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 14174

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Dr. Farzana Sabir

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Guest Editor

1. Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Departmento de Recursos Biológicos, Ambiente e Território (DRAT), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
2. Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: abiotic stress; ecophysiology; ROS signaling; grapevine selection; antioxidative response; ascorbate

Prof. Dr. Luísa Carvalho

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Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Associated Laboratory TERRA, Departmento de Recursos Biológicos, Ambiente e Território (DRAT), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: abiotic stress; antioxidative response; ascorbate and glutathione; biotechnology; climate change; ecophysiology; grapevine selection; Heat shock proteins; molecular biology; ROS signaling
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Dear Colleagues,

Fruit plants encounter several abiotic stresses in their surroundings, especially under climate change scenarios. Drought, salinity and temperature variations are common unfavorable conditions that adversely affect fruit plant growth and production. Therefore, fruit plants develop various sophisticated protective mechanisms by inducing several physiological, metabolic responses to abiotic stress.

Despite our current understanding, various facets of plant response and adaptation are still lacking adequate attention. For instance, the molecular mechanisms regulating the membrane channels in fruit plant–water/plant–mineral relations are still not completely understood in many common fruit plants. Accumulation of ROS under oxidative stress and their role in signaling events, as well as extrusion of toxic compounds, are also crucial mechanisms that deserve further attention. Furthermore, the natural compounds of fruit plants are considered to be involved in defensive mechanisms; however, their exact roles in plant–environment relations are still an interesting open question.

In this Special Issue, original research papers and reviews, describing the current advances in stress response in plants with physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches, are welcome.

Dr. Farzana Sabir
Prof. Dr. Luísa Carvalho
Guest Editors

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Keywords

climate change
drought
salinity
heavy metals
reactive oxygen species (ROS)
natural compounds
defense mechanisms

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2390 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial–Spectral Analysis of Hyperspectral Images Reveals Early Detection of Downy Mildew on Grapevine Leaves

by Virginie Lacotte, Sergio Peignier, Marc Raynal, Isabelle Demeaux, François Delmotte and Pedro da Silva

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(17), 10012; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms231710012 - 02 Sep 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2229

Abstract

Downy mildew is a highly destructive disease of grapevine. Currently, monitoring for its symptoms is time-consuming and requires specialist staff. Therefore, an automated non-destructive method to detect the pathogen before the visible symptoms appear would be beneficial for early targeted treatments. The aim of this study was to detect the disease early in a controlled environment, and to monitor the disease severity evolution in time and space. We used a hyperspectral image database following the development from 0 to 9 days post inoculation (dpi) of three strains of Plasmopara viticola inoculated on grapevine leaves and developed an automatic detection tool based on a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. The SVM obtained promising validation average accuracy scores of 0.96, a test accuracy score of 0.99, and it did not output false positives on the control leaves and detected downy mildew at 2 dpi, 2 days before the clear onset of visual symptoms at 4 dpi. Moreover, the disease area detected over time was higher than that when visually assessed, providing a better evaluation of disease severity. To our knowledge, this is the first study using hyperspectral imaging to automatically detect and show the spatial distribution of downy mildew on grapevine leaves early over time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress: Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms for Adaptation in Fruit Plant)

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18 pages, 16302 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physiological and Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Responses and Difference to High Temperature and Humidity Stress in Two Melon Genotypes

by Jinyang Weng, Asad Rehman, Pengli Li, Liying Chang, Yidong Zhang and Qingliang Niu

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(2), 734; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms23020734 - 10 Jan 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 1901

Abstract

Due to the frequent occurrence of continuous high temperatures and heavy rain in summer, extremely high-temperature and high-humidity environments occur, which seriously harms crop growth. High temperature and humidity (HTH) stress have become the main environmental factors of combined stress in summer. The responses of morphological indexes, physiological and biochemical indexes, gas exchange parameters, and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were measured and combined with chloroplast ultrastructure and transcriptome sequencing to analyze the reasons for the difference in tolerance to HTH stress in HTH-sensitive ‘JIN TAI LANG’ and HTH-tolerant ‘JIN DI’ varieties. The results showed that with the extension of stress time, the superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities of the two melon varieties increased rapidly, the leaf water content increased, and the tolerant varieties showed stronger antioxidant capacity. Among the sensitive cultivars, Pn, Fv/Fm, photosystem II, and photosystem I chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were severely inhibited and decreased rapidly with the extension of stress time, while the HTH-tolerant cultivars slightly decreased. The cell membrane and chloroplast damage in sensitive cultivars were more severe, and Lhca1, Lhca3, and Lhca4 proteins in photosystem II and Lhcb1-Lhcb6 proteins in photosystem I were inhibited compared with those in the tolerant cultivar. These conclusions may be the main reason for the different tolerances of the two cultivars. These findings will provide new insights into the response of other crops to HTH stress and also provide a basis for future research on the mechanism of HTH resistance in melon. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress: Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms for Adaptation in Fruit Plant)

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15 pages, 3760 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Activation of the ABA Signal Pathway Mediated by GABA Improves the Drought Resistance of Apple Seedlings

by Chenlu Liu, Hongtao Wang, Xiuzhi Zhang, Fengwang Ma, Tianli Guo and Cuiying Li

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(23), 12676; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms222312676 - 24 Nov 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2335

Abstract

Drought seriously affects the yield and quality of apples. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) plays an important role in the responses of plants to various stresses. However, the role and possible mechanism of GABA in the drought response of apple seedlings remain unknown. To explore the effect of GABA on apple seedlings under drought stress, seedlings of Malus hupehensis were treated with seven concentrations of GABA, and the response of seedlings under 15-day drought stress was observed. The results showed that 0.5 mM GABA was the most effective at relieving drought stress. Treatment with GABA reduced the relative electrical conductivity and MDA content of leaves induced by drought stress and significantly increased the relative water content of leaves. Exogenous GABA significantly decreased the stomatal conductance and intercellular carbon dioxide concentration and transpiration rate, and it significantly increased the photosynthetic rate under drought. GABA also reduced the accumulation of superoxide anions and hydrogen peroxide in leaf tissues under drought and increased the activities of POD, SOD, and CAT and the content of GABA. Exogenous treatment with GABA acted through the accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA) in the leaves to significantly decrease stomatal conductance and increase the stomatal closure rate, and the levels of expression of ABA-related genes PYL4, ABI1, ABI2, HAB1, ABF3, and OST1 changed in response to drought. Taken together, exogenous GABA can enhance the drought tolerance of apple seedlings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress: Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms for Adaptation in Fruit Plant)

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18 pages, 4930 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Identification of the Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/Hydrolase (XTH) and Polygalacturonase (PG) Genes and Characterization of Their Role in Fruit Softening of Sweet Cherry

by Zefeng Zhai, Chen Feng, Yanyan Wang, Yueting Sun, Xiang Peng, Yuqin Xiao, Xiang Zhang, Xin Zhou, Jiale Jiao, Weili Wang, Bingyang Du, Chao Wang, Yang Liu and Tianhong Li

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(22), 12331; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms222212331 - 15 Nov 2021

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2575

Abstract

Fruit firmness is an important economical trait in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) where the change of this trait is related to cell wall degradation. Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase (XTH) and polygalacturonases (PGs) are critical cell-wall-modifying enzymes that occupy a crucial position in fruit ripening and softening. Herein, we identified 18 XTHs and 45 PGs designated PavXTH1-18 and PavPG1-45 based on their locations in the genome of sweet cherry. We provided a systematical overview of PavXTHs and PavPGs, including phylogenetic relationships, conserved motifs, and expression profiling of these genes. The results showed that PavXTH14, PavXTH15 and PavPG38 were most likely to participated in fruit softening owing to the substantial increment in expression during fruit development and ripening. Furthermore, the phytohormone ABA, MeJA, and ethephon significantly elevated the expression of PavPG38 and PavXTH15, and thus promoted fruit softening. Importantly, transient expression PavXTH14, PavXTH15 and PavPG38 in cherry fruits significantly reduced the fruit firmness, and the content of various cell wall components including hemicellulose and pectin significantly changed correspondingly in the transgenic fruit. Taken together, these results present an extensive analysis of XTHs and PGs in sweet cherry and provide potential targets for breeding softening-resistant sweet cherry cultivars via manipulating cell wall-associated genes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress: Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms for Adaptation in Fruit Plant)

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20 pages, 7518 KiB

Open AccessArticle

CsCDPK6, a CsSAMS1-Interacting Protein, Affects Polyamine/Ethylene Biosynthesis in Cucumber and Enhances Salt Tolerance by Overexpression in Tobacco

by Heyuan Zhu, Meiwen He, Mohammad Shah Jahan, Jianqiang Wu, Qinsheng Gu, Sheng Shu, Jin Sun and Shirong Guo

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(20), 11133; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms222011133 - 15 Oct 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2352

Abstract

S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (SAMS) plays a crucial role in regulating stress responses. In a recent study, we found that overexpression of the cucumber gene CsSAMS1 in tobacco can affect the production of polyamines and ethylene, as well as enhancing the salt stress tolerance of tobacco, but the exact underlying mechanisms are elusive. The calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) family is ubiquitous in plants and performs different biological functions in plant development and response to abiotic stress. We used a yeast two-hybrid system to detect whether the protein CDPK6 could interact with SAMS1 and verified their interaction by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assays. To further explore the function of cucumber CDPK6, we isolated and characterized CsCDPK6 in cucumber. CsCDPK6 is a membrane protein that is highly expressed under various abiotic stresses, including salt stress. It was also observed that ectopic overexpression of CsCDPK6 in tobacco enhanced salt tolerance. Under salt stress, CsCDPK6-overexpressing lines enhanced the survival rate and reduced stomatal apertures in comparison to wild-type (WT) lines, as well as lowering malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents and causing less relative electrolyte leakage. Moreover, repression of CsCDPK6 expression by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in cucumber seedling cotyledons under salt stress increased ethylene production and promoted the transformation from putrescine (Put) to spermidine (Spd) and spermine (Spm). These findings shed light on the interaction of CsSAMS1 and CsCDPK6, which functions positively to regulate salt stress in plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress: Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms for Adaptation in Fruit Plant)

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20 pages, 3949 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Expression of the Malus sieversii NF-YB21 Encoded Gene Confers Tolerance to Osmotic Stresses in Arabidopsis thaliana

by Chen Feng, Yanyan Wang, Yueting Sun, Xiang Peng, Xiang Zhang, Xin Zhou, Jiale Jiao, Zefeng Zhai, Yuqin Xiao, Weili Wang, Yang Liu and Tianhong Li

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(18), 9777; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22189777 - 10 Sep 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1875

Abstract

Drought is the main environmental factor that limits the yield and quality of apples (Malus × domestica) grown in arid and semi-arid regions. Nuclear factor Ys (NF-Ys) are important transcription factors involved in the regulation of plant growth, development, and various stress responses. However, the function of NF-Y genes is poorly understood in apples. Here, we identified 43 NF-Y genes in the genome of apples and conducted an initial functional characterization of the apple NF-Y. Expression analysis of NF-Y members in M. sieversii revealed that a large number of NF-Ys were highly expressed in the roots compared with the leaves, and a large proportion of NF-Y genes responded to drought treatment. Furthermore, heterologous expression of MsNF-YB21, which was significantly upregulated by drought, led to a longer root length and, thus, conferred improved osmotic and salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. Moreover, the physiological analysis of MsNF-YB21 overexpression revealed enhanced antioxidant systems, including antioxidant enzymes and compatible solutes. In addition, genes encoding catalase (AtCAT2, AtCAT3), superoxide dismutase (AtFSD1, AtFSD3, AtCSD1), and peroxidase (AtPER12, AtPER42, AtPER47, AtPER51) showed upregulated expression in the MsNF-YB21 overexpression lines. These results for the MsNF-Y gene family provide useful information for future studies on NF-Ys in apples, and the functional analysis of MsNF-YB21 supports it as a potential target in the improvement of apple drought tolerance via biotechnological strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress: Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms for Adaptation in Fruit Plant)

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