Spanic Valentina, Duvnjak Jurica, Hefer Dubravka, D'Auria John C
Agricultural Institute Osijek, Južno Predgrađe 17, 31000 Osijek, Croatia.
Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK Gatersleben), OT Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Seeland, Germany.
Plants (Basel). 2024 Dec 24;14(1):10. doi: 10.3390/plants14010010.
Drought stress can adversely affect the seed germination and seedling growth of wheat plants. This study analyzed the effect of drought on seed germination and the morphological parameters of seedlings from ten winter wheat genotypes. The primary focus was to elucidate the effects of two drought intensities on metabolic status in wheat seedlings. The findings suggest that most wheat genotypes exhibited a significant reduction in germination and growth traits under severe drought, while the genotype Srpanjka exhibited less reduction under both drought conditions. Out of 668 metabolic features, 54 were altered under 10% PEG stress and 140 under 20% PEG stress, with 48 commonly shared between these two stress intensities. This study demonstrated that the metabolic response of shoots to 10% PEG stress contrasts with that of 20% PEG stress. Some growth metabolites, such as oxalic acid, sophorose, and turanose, showed the highest positive increase under both stresses, while butanoic acid, tropic acid, glycine, propionic acid, and phosphonoacetic acid decreased. It is suggested that the accumulation of amino acids, such as proline, contributed to the drought tolerance of the plants. Among all organic acids, succinic and aspartic acids particularly increased the plant response to mild and severe drought stress, respectively. Our results suggest that different metabolites in wheat seedlings enhance the potential ability of wheat to cope with drought stress in the early growth stages by activating a rapid and comprehensive tolerance mechanism. This discovery presents a new approach for enhancing wheat tolerance to abiotic stress, including water deficit.
干旱胁迫会对小麦植株的种子萌发和幼苗生长产生不利影响。本研究分析了干旱对10个冬小麦基因型种子萌发及幼苗形态参数的影响。主要重点是阐明两种干旱强度对小麦幼苗代谢状态的影响。研究结果表明，在严重干旱条件下，大多数小麦基因型的萌发和生长性状显著降低，而基因型Srpanjka在两种干旱条件下的降低程度较小。在668个代谢特征中，10%聚乙二醇（PEG）胁迫下有54个发生改变，20%PEG胁迫下有140个发生改变，这两种胁迫强度下共有48个共同改变的代谢特征。本研究表明，地上部对10%PEG胁迫和20%PEG胁迫的代谢反应不同。一些生长代谢物，如草酸、槐糖和松二糖，在两种胁迫下均呈现最高的正向增加，而丁酸、托品酸、甘氨酸、丙酸和膦乙酸则减少。研究表明，脯氨酸等氨基酸的积累有助于植物的耐旱性。在所有有机酸中，琥珀酸和天冬氨酸分别特别增强了植物对轻度和重度干旱胁迫的反应。我们的结果表明，小麦幼苗中的不同代谢物通过激活快速而全面的耐受机制，增强了小麦在早期生长阶段应对干旱胁迫的潜在能力。这一发现为提高小麦对包括水分亏缺在内的非生物胁迫的耐受性提供了一种新方法。
