The Stimulation of Superoxide Dismutase Enzyme Activity and Its Relation with the Pyrenophora teres f. teres Infection in Different Barley Genotypes

Adnan Eser,Judit Bányai,Mónika Cséplő,Viola Kunos,Andrea Uhrin,Magda Pál,József Bakonyi,Zoltán Kende,Klára Mészáros,Diána Seress

doi:10.3390/su14052597

Abstract

Changes in superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity were examined in infected barley seedlings of five cultivars with the goal to study the role of SOD in the defense mechanism induced by Pyrenophora teres f. teres (PTT) infection. Our results showed that although there were differences in the responses of the cultivars, all three PTT isolates (H-618, H-774, H-949) had significantly increased SOD activity in all examined barley varieties at the early stages of the infection. The lowest SOD activity was observed in the case of the most resistant cultivar. Our results did not show a clear connection between seedling resistance of genotypes and SOD enzyme activity; however, we were able to find strong significant correlations between the PTT infection scores on the Tekauz scale and the SOD activity. The measurement of the SOD activity could offer a novel perspective to detect the early stress responses induced by PTT. Our results suggest that the resistance of varieties cannot be estimated based on SOD enzyme activity alone, because many antioxidant enzymes play a role in fine-tuning the defense response, but SOD is an important member of this system.

Highlights

Food security highly depends on successful plant breeding activity and the production of adaptive, disease-resistant crops
We examined the change in super-oxide dismutase enzyme activity caused by the Pyrenophora teres f. teres infection in the first 72 h after infection and the subsequent two weeks on barley varieties with different PTT resistance
The reactive oxygen species play a key role as signal molecules in initiating plant defense mechanisms [19,24]

Summary

Introduction

Food security highly depends on successful plant breeding activity and the production of adaptive, disease-resistant crops. Teres Drechsler (anamorph Drechslera teres (Sacc.) Shoem.) (PTT) [2]. Controlling foliar diseases is essential in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) production, especially in the case of the damaging fungal pathogen Pyrenophora teres f. This ascomycete fungus causes the typical net-like leaf symptoms of the net blotch disease and necrotic lesions with chlorotic borders on sensitive barley genotypes [3]. PTT infection could cause significant damage both in spring and winter barley genotypes with an average of 20–30% grain yield loss, especially in rainy weather [4]. In case of very sensitive barley genotypes, the damage can be up to 100% [5,6]

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Results

Conclusion