The Barley S-Adenosylmethionine Synthetase 3 Gene HvSAMS3 Positively Regulates the Tolerance to Combined Drought and Salinity Stress in Tibetan Wild Barley
Authors: Umme Aktari Nadira
Zhong-Hua Chen
Feibo Wu
Imrul Mosaddek Ahmed
Cheng-Wei Qiu
Eva Vincze
Fangbin Cao
Journal: Cells (2020)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: Tibetan wild barley; barley stripe mosaic virus-based virus-induced gene silencing (BSMV-VIGS); combination of drought and salinity; polyamine; proteomics.
Affiliations: Department of Agronomy and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China., Plant Physiology Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur 1701, Bangladesh., Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China., School of Science and Health, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia., Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Fos√∏gsvej 1, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark.

Abstract:  Drought and salinity are two of the most frequently co-occurring abiotic stresses. Despite recent advances in the elucidation of the effects of these stresses individually during the vegetative stage of plants, significant gaps exist in our understanding of the combined effects of these two frequently co-occurring stresses. Here, Tibetan wild barley XZ5 (drought tolerant), XZ16 (salt tolerant), and cultivated barley cv. CM72 (salt tolerant) were subjected to drought (D), salinity (S), or a combination of both treatments (D+S). Protein synthesis is one of the primary activities of the green part of the plant. Therefore, leaf tissue is an important parameter to evaluate drought and salinity stress conditions. Sixty differentially expressed proteins were identified by mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF) and classified into 9 biological processes based on Gene Ontology annotation. Among them, 21 proteins were found to be expressed under drought or salinity alone; however, under D+S, 7 proteins, including S-adenosylmethionine synthetase 3 (SAMS3), were exclusively upregulated in drought-tolerant XZ5 but not in CM72. HvSAMS3 carries both N-terminal and central domains compared with Arabidopsis and activates the expression of several ethylene (ET)-responsive transcription factors. HvSAMS3 is mainly expressed in the roots and stems, and HvSAMS3 is a secretory protein located in the cell membrane and cytoplasm. Barley stripe mosaic virus-based virus-induced gene silencing (BSMV-VIGS) of HvSAMS3 in XZ5 severely compromised its tolerance to D+S and significantly reduced plant growth and K+ uptake. The reduced tolerance to the combined stress was associated with the inhibition of polyamines such as spermidine and spermine, polyamine oxidase, ethylene, biotin, and antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, the exogenous application of ethylene and biotin improved the tolerance to D+S in BSMV-VIGS:HvSAMS3-inoculated plants. Our findings highlight the significance of HvSAMS3 in the tolerance to D+S in XZ5. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Some of the 2D gels in Fig. 1 and S2 are extremely similar. Some of the spots in Fig. 2 seem identical.  ,