Abstract

Melatonin is a pleiotropic signal molecule that plays critical roles in regulating plant growth and development, as well as providing physiological protections against various environmental stresses. Nonetheless, the mechanisms for melatonin-mediated pollen thermotolerance remain largely unknown. In this study, we report that irrigation treatment with melatonin (20 µM) effectively ameliorated high temperature-induced inactivation of pollen and inhibition of pollen germination in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants. Melatonin alleviated reactive oxygen species production in tomato anthers under high temperature by the up-regulation of the transcription and activities of several antioxidant enzymes. Transmission electron micrograph results showed that high temperature-induced pollen abortion is associated with a premature degeneration of the tapetum cells and the formation of defective pollen grains with degenerated nuclei at the early uninuclear microspore stage, whilst melatonin protected degradation of organelles by enhancing the expression of heat shock protein genes to refold unfolded proteins and the expression of autophagy-related genes and formation of autophagosomes to degrade denatured proteins. These findings suggest a novel function of melatonin to protect pollen activity under high temperature and support the potential effects of melatonin on reproductive development of plants.

Details

Title
Melatonin Alleviates High Temperature-Induced Pollen Abortion in Solanum lycopersicum
Author
Zhen-Yu, Qi 1 ; Kai-Xin, Wang 2 ; Meng-Yu, Yan 2 ; Kanwar, Mukesh Kumar 2 ; Dao-Yi, Li 3 ; Wijaya, Leonard 4 ; Mohammed Nasser Alyemeni 4 ; Parvaiz Ahmad 4 ; Zhou, Jie 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Department of Horticulture/Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Integrative Biology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; [email protected] (Z.-Y.Q.); [email protected] (K.-X.W.); [email protected] (M.-Y.Y.); [email protected] (M.K.K.); Agricultural Experiment Station, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China 
2  Department of Horticulture/Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Integrative Biology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; [email protected] (Z.-Y.Q.); [email protected] (K.-X.W.); [email protected] (M.-Y.Y.); [email protected] (M.K.K.) 
3  Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences, Beijing 10083, China; [email protected] 
4  Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; [email protected] (L.W.); [email protected] (M.N.A.); [email protected] (P.A.) 
First page
386
Publication year
2018
Publication date
2018
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
14203049
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23020386
ProQuest document ID
2014759967
Copyright
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.