Label-free quantitative proteomics of arbuscular mycorrhizal Elaeagnus angustifolia seedlings provides insights into salt-stress tolerance mechanisms

Wei Chang; Yan Zhang; Yuan Ping; Kun Li; Dan-Dan Qi; Fu-Qiang Song

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.1098260

Label-free quantitative proteomics of arbuscular mycorrhizal Elaeagnus angustifolia seedlings provides insights into salt-stress tolerance mechanisms

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jan 10:13:1098260. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1098260. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Wei Chang^{1

2}, Yan Zhang¹, Yuan Ping¹, Kun Li¹, Dan-Dan Qi¹, Fu-Qiang Song^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Ecological Restoration and Resource Utilization for Cold Region, School of Life Sciences, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China.
² Jiaxiang Industrial Technology Research Institute of Heilongjiang University, Jinin, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Soil salinization has become one of the most serious environmental issues globally. Excessive accumulation of soluble salts will adversely affect the survival, growth, and reproduction of plants. Elaeagnus angustifolia L., commonly known as oleaster or Russian olive, has the characteristics of tolerance to drought and salt. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are considered to be bio-ameliorator of saline soils that can enhance the salt tolerance of the host plants. However, there is little information on the root proteomics of AM plants under salt stress.

Methods: In this study, a label-free quantitative proteomics method was employed to identify the differentially abundant proteins in AM E. angustifolia seedlings under salt stress.

Results: The results showed that a total of 170 proteins were significantly differentially regulated in E.angustifolia seedlings after AMF inoculation under salt stress. Mycorrhizal symbiosis helps the host plant E. angustifolia to respond positively to salt stress and enhances its salt tolerance by regulating the activities of some key proteins related to amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and glutathione metabolism in root tissues.

Conclusion: Aspartate aminotransferase, dehydratase-enolase-phosphatase 1 (DEP1), phospholipases D, diacylglycerol kinase, glycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferases, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidases may play important roles in mitigating the detrimental effect of salt stress on mycorrhizal E. angustifolia . In conclusion, these findings provide new insights into the salt-stress tolerance mechanisms of AM E. angustifolia seedlings and also clarify the role of AM fungi in the molecular regulation network of E. angustifolia under salt stress.

Keywords: Elaeagnus angustifolia; Rhizophagus irregularis; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi); proteomics; salt stress.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Special Fund for the Team Project of Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (No. TD2019C002), Key Research and Development and Guidance Program of Heilongjiang Province (No. GZ20210009), National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 31570635), Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (No. C2018052), Forest Scientific Research in the Public Welfare (No. 201504409), Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (No. YQ2019C015) and 100 Discipline Young Scholars Project of the Heilongjiang University.