biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 54:753-756, 2010 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-010-0135-7

The effect of 5-azacytidine on wheat seedlings responses to NaCl stress

L. Zhong¹, Y. H. Xu¹, J. B. Wang^1,*

¹ Key Laboratory of the MOE for Plant Development Biology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R. China

The effect of 5-azacytidine (5-azaC) on the alleviation of damaging effects of NaCl treatment was studied in two wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars differing in salt tolerance (salt-tolerant Dekang-961 and sensitive Lumai-15). The plants were pre-treated or not with 50 μM 5-azaC and then subjected to salt stress induced by 100 or 150 mM NaCl. Salinity caused reduction in biomass accumulation and increase in malondialdehyde content in root tissues in both cultivars, but less in pre-treated seedlings. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) in the roots of both cultivars increased during salt stress, but the rate of increase was higher in Dekang-961. Plants treated with 5-azaC had higher root SOD, CAT and POD activities under salt stress than untreated plants. Content of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) decreased in both cultivars under salt stress, and the level of demethylation was higher in Dekang-961 than that in Lumai-15. Moreover, the degree of methylation was lower in both cultivars under salt stress after 5-azaC application compared to only salt-treated groups. These findings suggested that 5-azaC could protect plants from salt stress.

Keywords: antioxidant enzymes; DNA methylation; lipid peroxidation

Subjects: azacytidine; catalase; DNA methylation; growth and growth analysis; malondialdehyde; peroxidase; salinity; superoxide dismutase (SOD); Triticum aestivum; wheat

Received: April 1, 2009; Accepted: March 25, 2010; Published: December 1, 2010  Show citation