TITLE:
Salicylic Acid Alleviates Aluminum Toxicity in Tomato Seedlings (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) through Activation of Antioxidant Defense System and Proline Biosynthesis
AUTHORS:
Varalakshmi Surapu, Anjaneyulu Ediga, Balaji Meriga
KEYWORDS:
Aluminum, Antioxidant Enzymes, Proline, Malondialdehyde, Salicylic Acid
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.5 No.9,
August
28,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The aim of this
work was to evaluate the alleviating efficacy of salicylic acid (100, 250 and
500 μM) against the toxic effects of aluminum (Al) on two tomato cultivars
(GOWRI and SIRI) differing in their sensitivity to Al stress. Al treatment (500
μM) caused 40% - 80% drop in plant growth, relative water content (RWC) and
cell viability and a reduction of 1 - 2.5 fold and 0.5 - 2 fold in glutathione
and proline content respectively, when compared to their control plants grown
in Al free medium. Al treatment also resulted in 2 - 5 fold raise in
malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, 2 - 3 fold higher Al uptake and 55% - 80% more
electrolyte leakage and caused severe DNA damage. Al stress enhanced (1 - 2
fold) the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD), but
decreased catalase (CAT) activity over their respective controls.
Exogenously-applied Salicylic acid (SA) significantly (p