BADH mitigates drought stress in red rice colonized with Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus

Katyanne Pereira1, Isabela Almeida2, Izamara Oliveira2, Vitória Lima2, Carlos Meneses1,2*
1
Graduate Program in Agricultural Sciences – Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB) –
Campina Grande/PB 58429-500, Brazil

²Biology Department – Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB) – Campina Grande/PB 58429-

500, Brazil

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

Key-words: Betaine Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Water Stress, Oryza sativa L., Diazotrophic
bacteria

Due to the environmental impacts of prolonged droughts, mankind is developing practices that
result in lower water requirement of crops. In this context, endophyte bacteria such as
Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus promoting growth bacteria can influence tolerance to water
stress, directly affecting the plant metabolism by providing substances that normally would not be
available and triggering a phenomenon known as induced systemic tolerance. The red rice (Oryza
sativa L.) is grown in several areas of the Brazilian semi-arid, mainly through family farming;
therefore it is necessary to study the possibility of increasing the plant tolerance to drought stress.
Given the above the aim of this study was to evaluate the expression patterns of betaine aldehyde
dehydrogenase (BADH) gene in red rice plants in interaction with G. diazotrophicus. For this, red
rice plants inoculated with G. diazotrophicus and the control ones were submitted to four soil
moisture conditions: 30%, 50%, 70% and 100% of field capacity. After 15 days maintaining the
level of stress, the analysis was carried out with BADH gene expression profile using quantitative
PCR. BADH gene was induced in all moisture conditions soil and the expression profiles were
quite varied compared to the control treatment. The highest levels of expression of BADH gene
occurred in plants grown at 50% of available water and inoculated with G. diazotrophicus. Based
on the relative expression of BADH gene, tolerance to drought stress in red rice is increased when
inoculated with G. diazotrophicus.

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