Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun;172(2):1189-1211.
doi: 10.1111/ppl.13351. Epub 2021 Feb 14.

Physiological and metabolic adjustments in the xero-halophyte Haloxylon salicornicum conferring drought tolerance

Ashok Panda  1   2 , Jaykumar Rangani  1   2 , Asish Kumar Parida  1   2
Affiliations

Physiological and metabolic adjustments in the xero-halophyte Haloxylon salicornicum conferring drought tolerance

Ashok Panda et al. Physiol Plant. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Drought is one of the most catastrophic abiotic stresses that affects global food production severely. The present work investigates the metabolic and physiological adaptation mechanisms in the xero-halophyte Haloxylon salicornicum to counter the effects of drought. This xero-halophyte can withstand a prolonged drought period of 14 days and recovered within 7 days of irrigation with minimal effects of drought on growth and physiological parameters. Photosynthetic parameters such as PN , gs , and E decreased significantly, whereas WUE increased under drought condition. Drought induces a significant decline in the Fv/Fm ratio. However, the value of Fv/Fm ratio successfully recovered within 7 days of the recovery period. Differential regulations of various antioxidative enzymes increase the drought tolerance potential of H. salicornicum. The metabolomic analysis of H. salicornicum shoot identified 63 metabolites: 43 significantly increased and 20 significantly decreased under drought conditions. These metabolites mainly include amino acids, organic acids, amines, sugar alcohols, sugars, fatty acids, alkaloids, and phytohormones. The metabolites that have a significant contribution towards drought tolerance include citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, d-erythrose, glyceric acid, sucrose, pentanoic acid, d-mannitol, ABA, and palmitic acid. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the vital drought-responsive metabolic pathways mainly include galactose metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, citrate cycle (TCA cycle), alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism. This study offers comprehensive information on physiological, antioxidative and metabolic adaptations and overall drought tolerance mechanisms in H. salicornicum. The information gained from this study will provide guidance to plant breeders and molecular biologists to develop drought-tolerant crop varieties.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Abedi, T. & Pakniyat, H. (2010) Antioxidant enzyme changes in response to drought stress in ten cultivars of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.). Czech Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding, 46, 27-34.
    1. Abid, G., M'hamdi, M., Mingeot, D., Aouida, M., Aroua, I., Muhovski, Y., et al. (2017) Effect of drought stress on chlorophyll fluorescence, antioxidant enzyme activities and gene expression patterns in faba bean (Vicia faba L.). Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, 63, 536-552.
    1. Ahanger, M.A. & Agarwal, R.M. (2017) Potassium up-regulates antioxidant metabolism and alleviates growth inhibition under water and osmotic stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L). Protoplasma, 254, 1471-1486.
    1. Al-Shamsi, N., El-Keblawy, A., Mosa, K.A. & Navarro, T. (2018) Drought tolerance and germination response to light and temperature for seeds of saline and non-saline habitats of the habitat-indifferent desert halophyte Suaeda vermiculata. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 40, 1-13.
    1. Araújo, M., Santos, C., Costa, M., Moutinho-Pereia, J., Correia, C. & Celeste Dias, M. (2016) Plasticity of young Moringa oleifera L. plants to face water deficit and UVB radiation challenges. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 162, 278-285.

LinkOut - more resources