Abstract
5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), a natural and environmentally friendly plant growth regulator, can improve plant tolerance to various environmental stresses. However, whether ALA can improve plant waterlogging tolerance is unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of ALA pretreatment on the waterlogging-induced damage of fig (Ficus carica Linn.) plants, which often suffer from waterlogging stress. ALA pretreatment significantly alleviated stress-induced morphological damage, increased leaf relative water content (RWC), and reduced leaf superoxide anion () production rate and malonaldehyde (MDA) content in fig leaves, indicating ALA mitigates waterlogging stress of fig plants. We further demonstrated that ALA pretreatment largely promoted leaf chlorophyll content, photosynthetic electron transfer ability, and photosynthetic performance index, indicating ALA significantly improves plant photosynthetic efficiency under waterlogging stress. Moreover, ALA pretreatment significantly increased activities of leaf superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD), root vigor, and activities of root alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), indicating ALA also significantly improves antioxidant ability and root function of fig plants under waterlogging stress. Taken together, ALA pretreatment improves waterlogging tolerance of fig plants significantly, and the promoted root respiration, leaf photosynthesis, and antioxidant ability may contribute greatly to this improvement. Our data firstly shows that ALA can improve plant waterlogging tolerance.
Highlights
Under natural conditions, plants are frequently exposed to transient or long-term soil waterlogging, which has long been identified as a major abiotic stress [1,2]
Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) alleviated morphological damage and leaf relative water content (RWC) reduction induced by waterlogging To estimate the effects of waterlogging and ALA on fig plants, leaf morphological characteristics and leaf RWC were monitored during the whole experiment
These results indicated ALA pretreatment alleviated the damaging effects of waterlogging stress on fig plants
Summary
Plants are frequently exposed to transient or long-term soil waterlogging, which has long been identified as a major abiotic stress [1,2]. Soil waterlogging significantly limits growth, development, and survival of numerous plant species, in natural ecosystems and in agricultural and horticultural systems [3,4]. Exploring effective approaches is of urgent need to improve plant waterlogging tolerance. Application of bio-regulators (plant growth regulators as well as endogenous plant hormones) to plants is one effective way to enhance plant stress tolerance [5]. 5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is a key precursor of all porphyrin compounds such as chlorophyll and heme in plants [6]. In 1998, hormonal activities of ALA were found in plant tissue culture [7]. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0147202 January 20, 2016
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