title: Hydrogen sulfide improves drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana by microRNA expressions.
abstract: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a gasotransmitter and plays an important role in many physiological processes in mammals. Studies of its functions in plants are attracting ever growing interest, for example, its ability to enhance drought resistance in Arabidopsis. A general role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plant adaptive responses to drought stress has thereby increased our interest to delve into the possible interplay between H2S and miRNAs. Our results showed that treating wild type (WT) Arabidopsis seedlings with polyethylene glycol 8000 (PEG8000) to simulate drought stress caused an increase in production rate of endogenous H2S; and a significant transcriptional reformation of relevant miRNAs, which were also triggered by exogenous H2S in WT. When lcd mutants (with lower H2S production rate than WT) were treated with PEG8000, they showed lower levels of miRNA expression changes than WT. In addition, we detected significant changes in target gene expression of those miRNAs and the corresponding phenotypes in lcd, including less roots, retardation of leaf growth and development and greater superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity under drought stress. We thereby conclude that H2S can improve drought resistance through regulating drought associated miRNAs in Arabidopsis.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, PR China ; College of Life Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiejie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Tongji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Huihong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhuping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yanxi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pei
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects*; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000494:pharmacology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide