Abstract
Drought is one of the major environmental constraints affecting the crops worldwide. Expression of boiling soluble proteins (BSPs) is of paramount importance, because they play important roles in the water stress responses and also in plant metabolism. In this study, the effect of drought on BSPs at vegetative (shoots) and reproductive (seeds) phases of drought tolerant (cv. ‘PBW 527’) and drought susceptible (cv. ‘PBW 343’) cultivars of Triticum aestivum were carried at three different developmental stages. The boiling soluble protein profiles of shoots and seeds were outlined via SDS-PAGE followed by immune-blot analysis using anti-HSP, anti-APase, anti-LEA, anti-SOD, anti-AQUA and anti-CAT antibodies. Western blot analysis revealed that expression of BSPs was modulated differentially in a stress, tissue, developmental stage and cultivar dependent manner. For instance, enhanced expression of seeds BSPs (APase, LEA, CAT, AQUA) was observed in the tolerant cv. ‘PBW 527’ after drought stress. However, no such enhancement was observed in the susceptible cultivar. Similarly, in shoots of cv. ‘PBW 527’, a substantial increase of BSP (SOD) expression was established after drought stress treatment, indicating their role in drought stress adaptation. Further, to gain an insight into the role of BSPs, a time course pre- and post-stress kinetic studies were also conducted in the seeds of tolerant and susceptible wheat cultivars. Based upon the observations, the possible role of boiling soluble proteins (hydrophilins) in water stress tolerance is discussed.
Highlights
Growth and productivity of various cereals are affected by a plethora of abiotic factors, out of which drought is one of the most limiting factors occurring frequently
From the results of the present findings, we can conclude that diverse array of the boiling soluble proteins accumulated under drought conditions at different developmental stages in both the cultivars
Enhanced expression of BsAPase, BsLEA, BsAQPs, BsHSPs, BsCAT was observed in drought tolerant cv
Summary
Growth and productivity of various cereals are affected by a plethora of abiotic factors, out of which drought is one of the most limiting factors occurring frequently. It is defined as a decrease in soil water potential resulting in reduced osmotic potential by plants for the water absorption by the congestion of soluble carbohydrates, proline and other osmolytes (Chaves et al, 2003; Atkinson et al, 2013). According to Pfeiffer et al (2005), 50% of wheat production area is affected due to drought worldwide Due to their static nature, plants have evolved drought avoidance and drought tolerance mechanisms to cope up with the environmental stresses. Quantitative and qualitative changes in the expression of these proteins in response to water stress have been reported earlier
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