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A role for ABA in the plants response to chitosan

Sarah Azinheiro1, Francisco Avelelas1, Sergio M. Leandro1 and Americo Rodrigues1*
  • 1 Instituto Politecnico de Leiria, GIRM – Marine Resources Research Group, ESTM, Portugal

Chitosan is a biopolymer of glucosamine residue that can be produced by deacetylation of chitin present in seafood wastes such as shrimp or crab shell. Chitosan and its derivatives are nontoxic and biodegradable, and have been used in applications like cosmetics, medicine or agriculture. When used to enhance plant defenses, chitosan induces host defense responses in both monocotyledons and dicotyledons. These responses include lignification, chitinase and glucanase activation, phytoalexin biosynthesis, among others (El Hadrami et al., 2010). Reduction of plant leaves transpiration due to stomatal closure without affecting the photosynthetic rate or production yields has also been described in plants treated with chitosan. This effect was observed in different plants like bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)(Khokon et al., 2010), pepper (Capsicum sp)(Bittelli et al., 2001) or barley (Hordeum vulgare) (Koers et al., 2011) among others. Abscisic acid (ABA) plays a crucial role in the regulation of stomata aperture (Kim et al., 2010) but the role of this phytohormone in the chitosan induced stomatal closure is not clearly understood. Chitosan treatment of bean leaves triggers a 3 times increase in ABA content indicating an involvement of ABA in chitosan induced stomatal closure (Iriti et al., 2009). However, in Arabidopsis, aba2-2 mutants and wild type plants treated with an ABA biosynthesis inhibitor presented chitosan induced stomatal closure similar to wild type untreated plants suggesting that endogenous ABA is not required for this effect (Issak et al., 2013). The involvement of ABA in this process is also suggested by the observation that chitosan and ABA have convergent signaling components, like calcium and reactive oxygen species (Srivastava et al., 2009). The aim of this work is to better understand the role of ABA in chitosan induced stomatal closure, leading to a reduction of transpiration and concomitantly to higher water-use efficiency, using molecular and physiological approaches. Transcriptomic analysis of ABA and chitosan treated plants, using public available data, show a significant overlap between the transcriptional changes triggered by chitosan and by ABA. More than 14% and 10% of the total number of genes upregulated and downregulated by chitosan, respectively, were similarly regulated by ABA. Preliminary results also suggested that, in Arabidopsis, chitosan and ABA have a similar effect in germination and root growth assays. Taken together, these results support a role for ABA in the plant response to chitosan.

References

Bittelli, M., Flury, M., Campbell, G.S., and Nichols, E.J. (2001). Reduction of transpiration through foliar application of chitosan. Agric. For. Meteorol. 107, 167-175.
El Hadrami, A., Adam, L.R., El Hadrami, I., and Daayf, F. (2010). Chitosan in Plant Protection. Mar. Drugs 8, 968-987.
Iriti, M., Picchi, V., Rossoni, M., Gomarasca, S., Ludwig, N., Gargano, M., and Faoro, F. (2009). Chitosan antitranspirant activity is due to abscisic acid-dependent stomatal closure. Environ. Exp. Bot. 66, 493-500.
Issak, M., Okuma, E., Munemasa, S., Nakamura, Y., Mori, I.C., and Murata, Y. (2013). Neither Endogenous Abscisic Acid nor Endogenous Jasmonate Is Involved in Salicylic Acid-, Yeast Elicitor-, or Chitosan-Induced Stomatal Closure in Arabidopsis thaliana. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 77, 1111-1113.
Khokon, M.A.R., Uraji, M., Munemasa, S., Okuma, E., Nakamura, Y., Mori, I.C., and Murata, Y. (2010). Chitosan-Induced Stomatal Closure Accompanied by Peroxidase-Mediated Reactive Oxygen Species Production in Arabidopsis. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 74, 2313-2315.
Kim, T.H., Bohmer, M., Hu, H., Nishimura, N., and Schroeder, J.I. (2010). Guard cell signal transduction network: advances in understanding abscisic acid, CO2, and Ca2+ signaling. Annual review of plant biology 61, 561-591.
Koers, S., Guzel-Deger, A., Marten, I., and Roelfsema, M.R.G. (2011). Barley mildew and its elicitor chitosan promote closed stomata by stimulating guard-cell S-type anion channels. Plant J. 68, 670-680.
Srivastava, N., Gonugunta, V.K., Puli, M.R., and Raghavendra, A.S. (2009). Nitric oxide production occurs downstream of reactive oxygen species in guard cells during stomatal closure induced by chitosan in abaxial epidermis of Pisum sativum. Planta 229, 757-765.

Keywords: Chitosan, ABA, Plant stress biology, osmotic stress, ABA signaling

Conference: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014, Peniche, Portugal, 10 Jul - 11 Jul, 2014.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: BLUE BIOTECH

Citation: Azinheiro S, Avelelas F, Leandro SM and Rodrigues A (2014). A role for ABA in the plants response to chitosan. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2014.02.00069

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Received: 14 May 2014; Published Online: 18 Jul 2014.

* Correspondence: Dr. Americo Rodrigues, Instituto Politecnico de Leiria, GIRM – Marine Resources Research Group, ESTM, Peniche, 2520-641, Portugal, arodrigues@ipleiria.pt