Smoke Priming Regulates Growth and the Expression of Myeloblastosis and Zinc-Finger Genes in Rice under Salt Stress

Abstract

Salinity negatively affects the rice growth and productivity around the globe including Pakistan. The current study describes about the application of new approach of smoke solution priming, which was used to overcome the deteriorating effect of salinity by investigating its affects on biochemical and molecular attributes of rice crop. Seeds of two rice varieties (Basmati-385 and Shaheen Basmati) were soaked in smoke solution for 24 h. Smoke-soaked seeds were used to evaluate its effect on plant fresh and dry biomass, elemental uptake and expression of myeloblastosis (MYB) and zinc-finger (ZAT12) genes against different levels of NaCl (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM). Fresh and dry biomass of plant was decreased with increasing level of salt stress, while plant raised from smoke-primed seeds had lowers the adverse effect of salt stress. Concentration of sodium ion and \(\hbox {Na}^{+}/\hbox {K}^{+ }\)ratio was increased, while potassium ion concentration was decreased with increasing salt concentration in the medium. The amount of sodium ion was noted higher in roots than shoots, while potassium was in low amount in roots than shoot. Smoke solution reduced the harmful effect of salt stress by reducing the uptake of sodium ion and increasing potassium ions both in roots and in shoots. The expression of MYB and ZAT12 genes was checked by using RT-PCR approach. Result shows that MYB and ZAT12 protein genes were expressed differently under various levels of salt stress, while priming with the smoke solution changed the expression profile of MYB and ZAT12 protein genes by alleviating the drastic effect. It was concluded that priming with smoke solution protects the plants from ionic toxicity, shows promising effect on rice growth and can be used for enhancing crop productivity under saline condition.