Changes in gene expression pattern of red rice when submitted to water stress mitigation

by Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus

Vitória Lima1, Isabela Almeida1, Izamara Oliveira1, Katyanne Pereira2, Carlos Meneses1,2*
1
Biology Department – Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB) – Campina Grande/PB 58429-
500, Brazil
2
Graduate Program in Agricultural Sciences – Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB) –
Campina Grande/PB 58429-500, Brazil

*Corresponding Author e-mail: carlos.meneses@pq.cnpq.br

Key-words: Stress Alleviation, Drought, Oryza sativa L., Diazotrophic bacterias

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are associated with plant roots, increased plant
productivity and immunity and several groups in recent works show that PGPR also elicit so-called
induced systemic tolerance to water stress. Given the above the present study was to evaluate the
expression patterns for the genes cAPX, rbcL and rbcS encoding respectively cytosolic ascorbate
peroxidase and large and small subunits of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxy/oxygenase
(Rubisco) in the leaves of red rice plants (Oryza sativa L.) interacting with Gluconacetobacter
diazotrophicus PAL5. Plants inoculated with G. diazotrophicus and the control not treated ones
were submitted to four soil moisture conditions: 30%, 50%, 70% and 100% of field capacity. After
withholding watering for 15 days, the analysis was carried out with cAPX, rbcL and rbcS genes
using quantitative PCR. G. diazotrophicus-treated red rice plants had much darker green leaves
and substantially lighter wilt symptoms than the control ones. Compared to the control, the G.
diazotrophicus treatment significantly enhanced the superoxide dismutase activity and mitigated
the drought-triggered down-regulation of the expression of the analyzed genes in red rice leaves.
These results indicated that G. diazotrophicus grant induced systemic tolerance to drought stress
in red rice plants, by protecting plant cells and maintaining photosynthetic efficiency in some
antioxidase activities. To summarize, this work showed that an inoculation of G. diazotrophicus
PAL5 is a promising stress mitigate agent.

Funding Agency: CNPq Universal – MCTI n° 483547/2013-1, CAPES and UEPB