Khushboo Singh

Mechanism of action of hydrogen peroxide in wheat thermotolerance - interaction between antioxidant isoenzymes, proline and cell membrane

Terminal heat stress causes an array of physiological, biochemical and morphological changes in plants, which affect plant growth and development. It has very severe effect on the pollen viability and seed setting in wheat. In the present investigation, an altered expression of H 2 O 2 (0.9 μg/g in C-306 and 0.75 μg/g in HD2329) was observed with the highest accumulation at seed hardening stage and against heat shock (HS) of 42°C for 2 h. With the increase in H 2 O 2 accumulation, an increase in the number of isoenzymes of superoxide dismutase and catalase were observed with high activities under differential heat shock. A decrease in the proline accumulation was observed under differential heat shock. Exogenous application of H 2 O 2 (10 mmole/L) leads to increase in the accumulation of intracellular H 2 O 2 and further an increase in the number of isoenzymes of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) was observed. The tolerant cultivar was more responsive to exogenous application of H 2 O 2 compared to susceptible cultivar. The percentage decrease in cell membrane stability under differential heat shock was low in H2O2 treated plants compared to non-treated. The results from this study suggest a potential role for H 2 O 2 in regulating the activity of antioxidant enzymes and accumulation of proline inside cells and in turn influence the cell membrane stability under heat stress. All the defense associated genes were observed to be very responsive to intracellular H 2 O 2 , which gives inference that H 2 O 2 has regulatory role to play in controlling the expression and activities of these proteins under abiotic stresses. Key words : Antioxidant enzymes, wheat, heat stress, H 2 O 2 , proline, catalase, superoxide dismutase, cell membrane stability, reactive oxygen species.

Identification of Putative RuBisCo Activase (TaRca1)—The Catalytic Chaperone Regulating Carbon Assimilatory Pathway in Wheat (Triticum aestivum) under the Heat Stress

RuBisCo activase (Rca) is a catalytic chaperone involved in modulating the activity of RuBisCo (key enzyme of photosynthetic pathway). Here, we identified eight novel transcripts from wheat through data mining predicted to be Rca and cloned a transcript of 1.4 kb from cv. HD2985, named as TaRca1 (GenBank acc. no. KC776912). Single copy number of TaRca1 was observed in wheat genome. Expression analysis in diverse wheat genotypes (HD2985, Halna, PBW621, and HD2329) showed very high relative expression of TaRca1 in Halna under control and HS-treated, as compared to other cultivars at different stages of growth. TaRca1 protein was predicted to be chloroplast-localized with numerous potential phosphorylation sites. Northern blot analysis showed maximum accumulation of TaRca1 transcript in thermotolerant cv. during mealy-ripe stage, as compared to thermosusceptible. Decrease in the photosynthetic parameters was observed in all the cultivars, except PBW621 in response to HS. We observed significant increase in the Rca activity in all the cultivars under HS at different stages of growth. HS causes decrease in the RuBisCo activity; maximum reduction was observed during pollination stage in thermosusceptible cvs. as validated through immunoblotting. We observed uniform carbon distribution in different tissues of thermotolerant cvs., as compared to thermosusceptible. Similarly, tolerance level of leaf was observed maximum in Halna having high Rca activity under HS. A positive correlation was observed between the transcript and activity of TaRca1 in HS-treated Halna. Similarly, TaRca1 enzyme showed positive correlation with the activity of RuBisCo. There is, however, need to manipulate the thermal stability of TaRca1 enzyme through protein engineering for sustaining the photosynthetic rate under HS—a novel approach toward development of “climate-smart” crop.

Characterization of novel heat-responsive transcription factor (TaHSFA6e) gene involved in regulation of heat shock proteins (HSPs) — A key member of heat stress-tolerance network of wheat

Heat stress has an adverse effect on the quality and quantity of agriculturally important crops, especially wheat. The tolerance mechanism has not been explored much in wheat and very few genes/ TFs responsive to heat stress is available on public domain. Here, we identified, cloned and characterized a putative TaHSFA6e TF gene of 1.3 kb from wheat cv. HD2985. We observed an ORF of 368 aa with Hsf DNA binding signature domain in the amino acid sequence. Single copy number of TaHSFA6e was observed integrated in the genome of wheat. Expression analysis of TaHSFA6e under differential HS showed maximum transcripts in wheat cv. Halna (thermotolerant) in response to 38 °C for 2 h during pollination and grain-filling stages, as compared to PBW343, HD2329 and HD2985. Putative target genes of TaHSFA6e (HSP17, HSP70 and HSP90) showed upregulation in response to differential HS (30 & 38 °C, 2 h) during pollination and grain-filling stages. Small HSP17 was observed most triggered in Halna under HS. We observed increase in the catalase, guaiacol peroxidase, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and decrease in the lipid peroxidation in thermotolerant cvs. (Halna, HD2985), as compared to thermosusceptible (PBW343, HD2329) under differential HS. Multiple stresses (heat - 38 °C, 2 h, and drought - 100 mL of 20% polyethylene Glycol 6000) during seedling stage of wheat showed positive correlation between the expression of TaHSFA6e, putative targets (HSP70, HSP90, HSP17) and TAC. Halna (thermotolerant) performed better, as compared to other contrasting cvs. TaHSFA6e TF can be used as promising candidate gene for manipulating the heat stress-tolerance network.

Biochemical Defense Response: Characterizing the Plasticity of Source and Sink in Spring Wheat under Terminal Heat Stress

Wheat is highly prone to terminal heat stress (HS) under late-sown conditions. Delayed- sowing is one of the preferred methods to screen the genotypes for thermotolerance under open field conditions. We investigated the effect of terminal HS on the thermotolerance of four popular genotypes of wheat i.e. WR544, HD2967, HD2932, and HD2285 under field condition. We observed significant variations in the biochemical parameters like protein content, antioxidant activity, proline and total reducing sugar content in leaf, stem, and spike under normal (26 ± 2°C) and terminal HS (36 ± 2°C) conditions. Maximum protein, sugars and proline was observed in HD2967, as compared to other cultivars under terminal HS. Wheat cv. HD2967 showed more adaptability to the terminal HS. Differential protein-profiling in leaves, stem and spike of HD2967 under normal (26 ± 2°C) and terminal HS (36 ± 2°C) showed expression of some unique protein spots. MALDI-TOF/MS analysis showed the DEPs as RuBisCO (Rub), RuBisCO activase (Rca), oxygen evolving enhancer protein (OEEP), hypothetical proteins, etc. Expression analysis of genes associated with photosynthesis (Rub and Rca) and starch biosynthesis pathway (AGPase, SSS and SBE) showed significant variations in the expression under terminal HS. HD2967 showed better performance, as compared to other cultivars under terminal HS. SSS activity observed in HD2967 showed more stability under terminal HS, as compared with other cultivars. Triggering of different biochemical parameters in response to terminal HS was observed to modulate the plasticity of carbon assimilatory pathway. The identified DEPs will enrich the proteomic resources of wheat and will provide a potential biochemical marker for screening wheat germplasm for thermotolerance. The model hypothesized will help the researchers to work in a more focused way to develop terminal heat tolerant wheat without compromising with the quality and quantity of grains.