Antioxidant system induction in response to drought in peanut

FURLAN, ANA; BIANUCCI, ELIANA; KLEINERT, ALEYSIA; TORDABLE, MARÍA DEL CARMEN; VALENTINE, ALEXANDER; CASTRO, STELLA

Jornada; XIX Annual Scientific Meeting. Cordoba Biology Society; 2013

Drought stress is an abiotic factor responsible for growth limitation. Under this condition, peanut plants accumulated reactive oxygen species (superoxide anion (O2 .-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)), abscisic acid and revealed oxidative damage in macromolecules. The aims of this work were to evaluate the electrophoretic protein profile and antioxidant system responses in peanut leaves exposed to drought stress and rehydration. Assays were conducted with peanut seeds (cv Granoleico) inoculated with Bradyrhizobium sp. SEMIA6144 growing in volcanic sand during 30 days. Plants were divided into three groups: control: normal watering; drought stress: withhold irrigation; and rehydration: re-watering of stressed plants. Results revealed that electrophoretic profile changed, evidenced by two stains with different mobility in drought stressed and rehydrated leaves. Regarding antioxidant enzyme activities, superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased, but catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) involved in H2O2 removal remained unaltered. Besides, ascorbate-glutathione cycle enzymes, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) were induced and those responses were reversed upon rehydration. Thus, antioxidant system induction in response to drought stress condition was not sufficient to prevent oxidative damage but contributed to metabolism restoration upon a short period of rehydration.