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. 2020 Jan;27(1):380-394.
doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2019.10.008. Epub 2019 Oct 22.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi modulates dynamics tolerance expression to mitigate drought stress in Ephedra foliata Boiss

Al-Bandari Fahad Al-Arjani  1 , Abeer Hashem  1   2 , Elsayed Fathi Abd Allah  3
Affiliations

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi modulates dynamics tolerance expression to mitigate drought stress in Ephedra foliata Boiss

Al-Bandari Fahad Al-Arjani et al. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are one of the most important drivers of soil ecosystem dynamics. AMF have the potential to improve plant growth and development by modulating key hormonal pathways, which result in decreasing the adverse impact of abiotic stress, such as drought. Pot experiments were conducted in this study to investigate the ability of AMF to ameliorate the adverse impact of drought in Ephedra foliate. Non-inoculated AMF E. foliate (Ef) plants, exhibited reduced growth in response to drought stress with a concomitant lowering of chlorophyll pigments, relative to non-stressed and AMF inoculated plant. AMF inoculated E. foliate showed improved nitrogen metabolism by positively regulating nitrate and nitrite reductase activity which results in greater ammonium availability for the synthesis of amino acids. Inoculation with AMF also increased antioxidant enzyme activity, ascorbic acid contents, and reduction in glutathione level. This resulted in significant amelioration of oxidative damage to plant membranes by restricting the excess generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide. Greater content of proline, glucose, and total soluble protein in AMF-inoculated plants provided further benefit to E. foliate plants and their ability to withstand drought stress, and also evident by a greater level of sucrose phosphate synthase activity. AMF significantly enhanced the uptake of essential nutrients like K, Mg, and Ca. Importantly, higher concentrations of plant hormones, including indole acetic acid (IAA), indole butyric acid (IBA), gibberellic acid (GA), and abscisic acid (ABA), were maintained in AMF-inoculated Ef plants. AMF inoculation also boosted phosphorous metabolism by increasing alkaline and acid phosphatase enzyme activity. In summary, AMF-inoculation of Ef plants significantly reduced the deleterious effect of drought stress by up-regulating the antioxidant defense system, synthesis of osmolytes, and maintaining phytohormone levels.

Keywords: AMF; Antioxidants; Drought; Ephedra foliata; Nitrogen metabolism; Phytohormones; Proline.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Effect of drought stress and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the morphological appearance (shoot and root) of Ephedra foliate.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A–F: Photomicrographs of root colonization of Ephedra foliate illustrating different AMF structural components. Ar = Arbuscule, IH = intraradical Hyphea, ArT = Arbuscular Trunck, IS = intact spore.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
A–C: Effect of drought and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the activity of (A) sucrose phosphate synthase, (B) acid phosphatase, and (C) alkaline phosphatase in Ephedra foliata. Data represent the mean of seven replicates and data followed by different letters are statistically different at P < 0.05.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
A–D: Effect of drought and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the content of (A) ammonium, (B) nitrate and (C) nitrate reductase activity and (D) nitrite reductase activity in Ephedra foliata. Data represent the mean of seven replicates and data followed by different letters are statistically different at P < 0.05.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
A–C: Effect of drought and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the content of (A) glucose (B) proline, and (C) soluble protein in Ephedra foliata. Data represent the mean of seven replicates and data followed by different letters is statistically different at P < 0.05.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
A–B: Effect of drought and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on (A) lipid peroxidation, and (B) hydrogen peroxide in Ephedra foliata. Data represent the mean of seven replicates and data followed by different letters are statistically different at P < 0.05.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
A–F: Effect of drought and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the activity of (A) superoxide dismutase (B) catalase (C) ascorbate peroxidase (D) glutathione reductase, and (E) the content of reduced glutathione and (F) ascorbic acid in Ephedra foliata. Data presented represent the mean of seven replicates and data followed by different letters are statistically different at P < 0.05.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
A–E: Effect of drought and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the endogenous concentration of (A) abscisic acid, (B) indole acetic acid [IAA], (C) indole butyric acid [IBA], (D) gibberellic acid, and (E) the ratio of IAA/IBA in Ephedra foliata. Data represent the mean of three replicates and data followed by different letters are statistically different at P < 0.05.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
A model illustrating the different mechanisms by which arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) increase drought tolerance in Ephedra foliata.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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