Beijing Key Laboratory of New Technology in Agricultural Application, National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Plant Production, Beijing University of Agriculture, Beijing 102206, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 29;23(15):8436. doi: 10.3390/ijms23158436.
Melatonin (MT) can effectively reduce oxidative damage induced by abiotic stresses such as salt in plants. However, the effects of MT on physiological responses and molecular regulation during wheat germination remains largely elusive. In this study, the response of wheat seeds to MT under salt stress during germination was investigated at physiological and transcriptome levels. Our results revealed that application of MT significantly reduced the negative influence of salt stress on wheat seed germination. The oxidative load was reduced by inducing high activities of antioxidant enzymes. In parallel, the content of gibberellin A3 (GA) and jasmonic acid (JA) increased in MT-treated seedling. RNA-seq analysis demonstrated that MT alters oxidoreductase activity and phytohormone-dependent signal transduction pathways under salt stress. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) revealed that MT participates in enhanced energy metabolism and protected seeds via maintained cell morphology under salt stress during wheat seed germination. Our findings provide a conceptual basis of the MT-mediated regulatory mechanism in plant adaptation to salt stress, and identify the potential candidate genes for salt-tolerant wheat molecular breeding.
褪黑素（MT）可以有效降低植物中非生物胁迫（如盐）引起的氧化损伤。然而，MT 对小麦萌发过程中生理响应和分子调控的影响在很大程度上仍不清楚。在这项研究中，我们从生理和转录组水平研究了 MT 在小麦种子萌发过程中对盐胁迫的响应。结果表明，MT 的应用显著降低了盐胁迫对小麦种子萌发的负面影响。通过诱导抗氧化酶的高活性来减轻氧化负荷。同时，在 MT 处理的幼苗中，赤霉素 A3（GA）和茉莉酸（JA）的含量增加。RNA-seq 分析表明，MT 在盐胁迫下改变了氧化还原酶活性和植物激素依赖的信号转导途径。加权相关网络分析（WGCNA）表明，MT 通过在小麦种子萌发过程中维持细胞形态参与增强了能量代谢和对盐胁迫的保护。本研究为 MT 介导的植物适应盐胁迫的调控机制提供了概念基础，并鉴定了耐盐小麦分子育种的潜在候选基因。
