Exploring the Potential of Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen Sulfide (NOSH)
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research City College of New York 2020 Exploring the Potential of Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen Sulfide (NOSH)-Releasing Synthetic Compounds as Novel Priming Agents against Drought Stress in Medicago sativa Plants Chrystalla Antoniou Cyprus University of Technology Rafaella Xenofontos Cyprus University of Technology Giannis Chatzimichail Cyprus University of Technology Anastasis Christou Agricultural Research Institute Khosrow Kashfi CUNY City College See next page for additional authors How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_pubs/777 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Authors Chrystalla Antoniou, Rafaella Xenofontos, Giannis Chatzimichail, Anastasis Christou, Khosrow Kashfi, and Vasileios Fotopoulos This article is available at CUNY Academic Works: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_pubs/777 biomolecules Article Exploring the Potential of Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen Sulfide (NOSH)-Releasing Synthetic Compounds as Novel Priming Agents against Drought Stress in Medicago sativa Plants Chrystalla Antoniou 1, Rafaella Xenofontos 1, Giannis Chatzimichail 1, Anastasis Christou 2, Khosrow Kashfi 3,4 and Vasileios Fotopoulos 1,* 1 Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology, 3603 Lemesos, Cyprus; [email protected] (C.A.); [email protected] (R.X.); [email protected] (G.C.) 2 Agricultural Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Natural Recourses, P.O. Box 22016, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus; [email protected] 3 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, City University of New York School of Medicine, New York, NY 10031, USA; kashfi@med.cuny.edu 4 Graduate Program in Biology, City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, NY 10016, USA * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +357-25-002418; Fax: +357-25-002632 Received: 10 December 2019; Accepted: 2 January 2020; Published: 10 January 2020 Abstract: Land plants are continuously exposed to multiple abiotic stress factors like drought, heat, and salinity. Nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are two well-examined signaling molecules that act as priming agents, regulating the response of plants to stressful conditions. Several chemical donors exist that provide plants with NO and H2S separately. NOSH is a remarkable novel donor as it can donate NO and H2S simultaneously to plants, while NOSH-aspirin additionally provides the pharmaceutical molecule acetylsalicylic acid. The current study aimed to investigate the potential synergistic effect of these molecules in drought-stressed Medicago sativa L. plants by following a pharmacological approach. Plants were initially pre-treated with both donors (NOSH and NOSH-aspirin) via foliar spraying, and were then subsequently exposed to a moderate water deficit while NO and H2S inhibitors (cPTIO and HA, respectively) were also employed. Phenotypic and physiological data showed that pre-treatment with NOSH synthetic compounds induced acclimation to subsequent drought stress and improved the recovery following rewatering. This was accompanied by modified reactive-oxygen and nitrogen-species signaling and metabolism, as well as attenuation of cellular damage, as evidenced by altered lipid peroxidation and proline accumulation levels. Furthermore, real-time RT-qPCR analysis revealed the differential regulation of multiple defense-related transcripts, including antioxidant enzymes. Overall, the present study proposed a novel role for NOSH compounds as efficient plant priming agents against environmental constraints through the coordinated regulation of multiple defense components, thus opening new horizons in the field of chemical priming research toward the use of target-selected compounds for stress tolerance enhancement. Keywords: alfalfa; hydrogen sulfide; aspirin; antioxidants; proline; nitric oxide; drought; priming 1. Introduction Abiotic stress factors represent major elements limiting global agricultural productivity [1]. The increased frequency of extreme environmental events resulting from undisputed climatic Biomolecules 2020, 10, 120; doi:10.3390/biom10010120 www.mdpi.com/journal/biomolecules Biomolecules 2020, 10, 120 2 of 17 change significantly influences plant growth and development. Close examination of plant-to-plant communication in field conditions has revealed the development of unique strategies from plants as a response to abiotic stress factors, with one of the most intriguing being through priming for enhanced defence responses. The process of priming involves prior exposure to an abiotic or biotic stressor, thus rendering a plant more tolerant to future exposure [2]. An analogy therefore exists with the concept of vaccination in animals, where the administration of antigenic material results in the stimulation of adaptive immunity to a disease, and ultimately, the prevention or amelioration of the effects of pathogen infection. Although the process of priming has been known for decades, it has only recently been suggested that it can improve crop tolerance to environmental stressors in the field [3]. Priming can also be accomplished by applying natural or synthetic chemical compounds that act as signal transducers, thus “switching on” plant defence systems. The use of chemical compounds as priming agents has indeed been shown to significantly enhance plant tolerance in various crop and non-crop species against a range of different individually applied abiotic stresses, with this field of study attracting increasing attention. Several types of molecules have the potential to act as a priming agent under specific conditions against a range of different environmental stressors [2]. A survey of relevant literature reveals a broad range, including amino acids (e.g., proline [4]), hormones (e.g., salicylic acid [5]), reactive oxygen-nitrogen-sulfur species (RONSS [6,7]), melatonin [8], and even water (i.e., hydropriming [9]). Reactive oxygen (e.g., H2O2), nitrogen (e.g., NO), and sulfur (e.g., H2S) species are of particular interest as they represent the key molecules involved in cellular signaling processes and gene regulation during stress and play a crucial role in the stress acclimation of plants [10,11]. Several reports have now led to the identification of a complex interaction between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), in which both reactive species are utilized by plants as signal transduction molecules during fundamental cellular and biological processes [10]; interestingly, recent reports have suggested that reactive sulfur species (RSS) may actually be additional players in this interaction [12]. NOSH-aspirin (NOSH-A; NBS-1120) is a novel hybrid synthetic compound belonging to the NSAID group that was first established as a high-potency compound for its anti-inflammatory action, e.g., anti-cancer [13–15] and neuroprotective activity in mammals [16]. NOSH-A is a donor that simultaneously releases nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), while NOSH donates NO and H2S. NOSH compounds represent very promising priming agent candidates due to this simultaneous donation, while they also avoid odor problems commonly associated with standard H2S donors, such as NaHS (smell of rotten eggs), thanks to its patented formulation. NO and H2S are two gasotransmitters with important physiological roles in plants, including their involvement in stress tolerance mechanisms [17]. Salicylates (e.g., salicylic acid) are produced by plants as part of their defense systems against biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Plant treatments with any of the three compounds strongly improved the germination and later plant growth in drought and salt stress conditions [17,18]. The aim of the present study was to examine the potential priming effects of NOSH and NOSH-aspirin pre-treatment in Medicago sativa plants growing under prolonged exposure to drought. A combinatorial physiological, biochemical, and molecular approach was employed toward this objective, while inhibitors of NO and H2S biosynthesis were also used, in order to decipher whether they present a cumulative protective role or act antagonistically. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Plant Material and Experimental Treatments Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) seeds were generously obtained by the Cyprus National Genebank and Herbarium and sown after scarification in 7-cm diameter plastic pots (10 seeds per pot) filled with a mixture of sterile potting soil:perlite (3:1). Seeds were stratified in the dark for 4 days at 4 ◦C and subsequently transferred in a growth chamber at 22/16 ◦C day/night temperatures, at 60–70% RH, 2 1 with a photosynthetic photon flux density of 100 µmol m s− and a 16/8-h photoperiod. Germinated Biomolecules 2020, 10, 120 3 of 17 seedlings were then thinned to three per pot. Growing plants were watered twice per week for the next 42 days until experimental treatments were applied. Plants were fertilized with commercial nutrient solution (Plant-Prod 20-20-20 Fertilizer, Lambrou Agro, Lemesos, Cyprus) every two weeks. In order to examine the effects of exogenous NOSH and NOSH-A application in plant tolerance to drought, plants were treated once