TITLE:
Alleviation of Drought Stress in Arabidopsis thaliana by 17β-Estradiol Application
AUTHORS:
Pallavi Upadhyay, Camelia Maier
KEYWORDS:
Arabidopsis, Drought Stress, Glutathione, H2O2, Proline, Stress Genes, Xenoestrogens
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.14,
October
20,
2016
ABSTRACT: Animal steroidal hormones, including estrogens, are
being introduced into the agricultural soil and water supply from increased
pharmaceutical and farm waste. Considering the current levels of xenoestrogen
contamination of plant environments in view of the climate change induced
drought conditions, this study was designed to understand the effect of
estradiol (ES) application on Arabidopsis drought stress responses. Estradiol treatment (10 nM, 100 nM) of plants
subjected to drought stress conditions by withholding water for 7 days resulted
in increased tolerance to drought stress reflected in the significantly higher
plant survival rates of 74% and 78%, respectively compared to control plants’
survival rates of 36% (no treatment) and 40% (mock treatment). Estradiol application
significantly increased the content of glutathione, proline and H2O2 and significantly enhanced the transcription of the stress responsive genes GSTU3, GER5, HSP101, and HSP70b. A high concentration of ES (10 μM)
did not protect plants against drought stress and proved to be toxic. These
results provide new insight into the effect of ES on drought-stress responses
in Arabidopsis with possible
practical agricultural applications regarding the effect of environmental
estrogens on crop plants.