Abscisic acid-mimicking ligand AMF4 induced cold tolerance in wheat by altering the activities of key carbohydrate metabolism enzymes

Abstract: AMF4, a recently synthetic ABA-mimicking ligand, has been reported to have long-lasting effects in inducing the expression of stress-responsive genes, hence conferring abiotic tolerance in plants. To test the effect of AMF4 on cold tolerance induction, the wheat plants were firstly foliar sprayed with AMF4 (10 μM), then the AMF4 treated and the control plants were exposed to a 24-hour low temperature treatment (2/0 °C). Under low temperature stress, the AMF plants possessed significantly higher relative water content, membrane stability index and ATP concentration in leaf, while lower leaf H2O2 concentration, compared with the control plants. The AMF4 treatment significantly increased the activities of APX, Ca2+-ATPase in the chloroplasts, while decreased SOD activity under low temperature, in relation to the control plants. In addition, the AMF plants showed significantly higher activities of key carbohydrate metabolism enzymes, such as UDP-glucose pyrophorylase, hexokinase, fructokinase, ADP-Glucose pyrophosphorylase, phosphoglucomutase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoglucoisomerase, in relation to the control plants under low temperature. These results demonstrate that AMF4 could be used to induce cold tolerance in wheat, and provide novel insights into the potential ways to enhance abiotic stress tolerance using the synthetic ABA-mimicking ligands.