Non-thermal plasmas affect seed quality, plant growth and DNA methylation patterns in soybean.

PERÉZ PIZÁ C; VARELA A; MARFIL C; IBAÑEZ VN; PREVOSTO L; ZILLI CG; CEJAS E; BALESTRASSE KB

Paraná, Entre Ríos

Congreso; 54th Annual Meeting Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; 2018

Non-thermal plasmas are partially ionized gases, usually generated by low-current electrical discharges that can be sprayed onto biologicaltissues. They are a novel and promising technology that might be employed for seed treatment before sowing as they allow enhancing seed health while promoting germination and vigor in a fast, cost-effective and eco-friendly way. This work analyses the effects of two different cold plasma treatments (N 2 for 3 min and O 2 for 2 min) applied to soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seeds on seed quality and growth parameters of plants (6 and 20 days-old) grown from them. Comparing plasma treatments with the control (non-treated), the results showed improvements of 10% in the number of normal seedlings, 2% in the germination rate, 4% in the germination index, 10% and 20% in vigor index I and II respectively and a decreased of 5% in the electrical conductivity of seeds. Plants grown from treated seeds exhibited a promoted growth in both analyzed stages: root length, total length and fresh weight increased 20%, 16% and 9% (respectively) in plants of 6 days and 16%, 10% and 8% (respectively) in plants of 20 days; leaf area and chlorophyll content in leaves of 20 days were also improved (4 and 20 %, respectively). MSAP (Methylation Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism) markers were assayed in order to investigate if the evaluated treatments induced epigeneticchanges. Preliminary results exhibited differential methylation patterns between plants grown from treated and non-treated seeds. The possible role of the epigenetic variability in the origin of the observed phenotypic differences will be discussed.