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Combined action of antioxidant defense system and osmolytes in chilling shock-induced chilling tolerance in Jatropha curcas seedlings

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Abstract

Low non-freezing temperature is one of the major environmental factors affecting growth, development and geographical distribution of chilling-sensitive plants, Jatropha curcas is considered as a sustainable energy plants with great potential for biodiesel production. In this study, chilling shock at 5 °C followed by recovery at 26 °C for 4 h significantly improved survival percentage of J. curcas seedlings under chilling stress at 1 °C. In addition, chilling shock could obviously enhance the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR), and the levels of antioxidants ascorbic acid (AsA) and glutathione (GSH), as well as the contents of osmolytes proline and betaine in leaves of seedlings of J. curcas compared with the control without chilling shock. During the process of recovery, GR activity, AsA, GSH, proline and betaine contents sequentially increased, whereas SOD, APX and CAT activities gradually decreased, but they markedly maintained higher activities than those of control. Under chilling stress, activities of SOD, APX, CAT, GR and GPX, and contents of AsA, GSH, proline and betaine, as well as the ratio of the reduced antioxidants to total antioxidants [AsA/(AsA + DHA) and GSH/(GSH + GSSG)] in the shocked and non-shock seedlings all dropped, but shocked seedlings sustained significantly higher antioxidant enzyme activity, antioxidant and osmolyte contents, as well as ratio of reduced antioxidants to total antioxidants from beginning to end compared with control. These results indicated that the chilling shock followed by recovery could improve chilling tolerance of seedlings in J. curcas, and antioxidant enzymes and osmolytes play important role in the acquisition of chilling tolerance.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

AsA:

Ascorbic acid

BADH:

Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase

BSO:

Buthionine sulfoximine

CAT:

Catalase

DHA:

Dehydroascorbate

DW:

Dry weight

γEC:

γ-Glutamylcysteine

GR:

Glutathione reductase

GSH:

Glutathione

GSSG:

Oxidized glutathione

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NBT:

Nitroblue tetrazolium

GPX:

Guaiacol peroxidase

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province of China (2010ZC066).

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Correspondence to Zhong-Guang Li.

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Communicated by S. Renault.

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Li, ZG., Yuan, LX., Wang, QL. et al. Combined action of antioxidant defense system and osmolytes in chilling shock-induced chilling tolerance in Jatropha curcas seedlings. Acta Physiol Plant 35, 2127–2136 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1249-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1249-2

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