Kresoxim-methyl primes Medicago truncatula plants against abiotic stress factors via altered reactive oxygen and nitrogen species signalling leading to downstream transcriptional and metabolic readjustment.

Panagiota Filippou,Toshihiro Obata,Vasileios Fotopoulos,Katrien Van Der Kelen,Frank Van Breusegem,Chrystalla Antoniou,Vaggelis Harokopos,Vassilis Aidinis,Loukas Kanetis,Alisdair R Fernie

doi:10.1093/jxb/erv516

Panagiota Filippou, Toshihiro Obata + Show 8 more

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https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erv516

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Biotic and abiotic stresses, such as fungal infection and drought, cause major yield losses in modern agriculture. Kresoxim-methyl (KM) belongs to the strobilurins, one of the most important classes of agricultural fungicides displaying a direct effect on several plant physiological and developmental processes. However, the impact of KM treatment on salt and drought stress tolerance is unknown. In this study we demonstrate that KM pre-treatment of Medicago truncatula plants results in increased protection to drought and salt stress. Foliar application with KM prior to stress imposition resulted in improvement of physiological parameters compared with stressed-only plants. This protective effect was further supported by increased proline biosynthesis, modified reactive oxygen and nitrogen species signalling, and attenuation of cellular damage. In addition, comprehensive transcriptome analysis identified a number of transcripts that are differentially accumulating in drought- and salinity-stressed plants (646 and 57, respectively) after KM pre-treatment compared with stressed plants with no KM pre-treatment. Metabolomic analysis suggests that the priming role of KM in drought- and to a lesser extent in salinity-stressed plants can be attributed to the regulation of key metabolites (including sugars and amino acids) resulting in protection against abiotic stress factors. Overall, the present study highlights the potential use of this commonly used fungicide as a priming agent against key abiotic stress conditions.

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Drought and salinity are two of the most important abiotic stress factors limiting plant growth and crop productivity worldwide (Krasensky and Jonak, 2012), including leguminous crops such as Medicago truncatula (Filippou et al., 2011, Mhadhbi et al, 2011)
To investigate the effect of KM on reactive nitrogen species (RNS) content, Nitric oxide (NO) was quantified in leaves of M. truncatula plants subjected to drought and salinity stress in the presence or absence of KM pre-treatment
Both stress conditions resulted in increased NO content, maximum NO contents were recorded in drought-stressed plants (Fig. 3A)

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Drought and salinity are two of the most important abiotic stress factors limiting plant growth and crop productivity worldwide (Krasensky and Jonak, 2012), including leguminous crops such as Medicago truncatula (Filippou et al., 2011, Mhadhbi et al, 2011). Drought conditions cause osmotic stress (Osakabe et al, 2013), whereas salt stress causes both osmotic and ionic stress (Zhang et al, 2009), both leading to cell death under extreme conditions. NR enzymatic activity in plant tissues is subjected to complex regulation in response to different environmental stimuli and it has been shown to be modified by both salinity (Reda et al, 2011) and drought (Fresneau et al, 2007) stresses

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