Abstract
Salinity is a global environmental problem, restricting crop production in a vast area of agricultural land. Although epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the most abundant polyphenol in tea plants, has a strong antioxidative action in vitro, the role of EGCG in the plant response to salt stress remains unknown. In the present study, using a series of EGCG concentrations (10, 100, and 1000 µM), we showed that EGCG could alleviate salt stress-induced inhibition in seed germination and root growth in tomato. Exogenous EGCG increased not only the seed germination rate, but also the germination energy and germination index under salt stress. The 150 mM NaCl treatment significantly increased lipid peroxidation in roots by excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast, EGCG treatment, particularly at 100 µM concentration, mitigated NaCl-induced oxidative stress as evidenced by the decreased H2O2 and malondialdehyde content in roots. Analysis of the antioxidant enzyme system reveals that EGCG increased the activity of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, and catalase under salt stress. Considering the beneficial effect of EGCG on seed germination, root growth, ROS scavenging, and antioxidant enzyme activity, the 100 µM EGCG treatment appears to be the most effective concentration of those tested under salt stress in tomato. Our results suggest that the EGCG-promoted tomato tolerance to salt stress is associated with the mitigation of oxidative stress through an efficient ROS scavenging mechanism by the action of enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity. Thus, the enhancement of plant tolerance by exogenous EGCG can potentially expand crop cultivation in saline soils.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Henan University of Science and Technology Research Start-up Fund for New Faculty (Grant No. 13480058), the Key Laboratory of Horticultural Crop Growth and Quality Control in Protected Environment of Luoyang City, the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization (Grant No. SKLTOF20170106), the Science and Technology Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (Grant No. CAAS-ASTIP-2014-TRICAAS), and the Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (Grant Nos. 1610212016013, 1610212016025).
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GJA and XL conceived and designed the research; GJA, YL, and XL performed the experiments and analyzed the data; W-YH and SC discussed the data; GJA wrote the manuscript with the contributions from the other authors.
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Ahammed, G.J., Li, Y., Li, X. et al. Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Alleviates Salinity-Retarded Seed Germination and Oxidative Stress in Tomato. J Plant Growth Regul 37, 1349–1356 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-018-9849-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-018-9849-0