Melatonin Alleviates Copper Toxicity via Improving ROS Metabolism and Antioxidant Defense Response in Tomato Seedlings.

ABSTRACT: The excessive accumulation of copper (Cu²⁺) has become a threat to worldwide crop production. Recently, it was revealed that melatonin (MT) could play a crucial role against heavy metal (HM) stresses in plants. However, the underlying mechanism of MT function acted upon by Cu²⁺ stress (CS) has not been substantiated in tomatoes. In the present work, we produced MT-rich tomato plants by foliar usage of MT, and MT-deficient tomato plants by employing a virus-induced gene silencing methodology and exogenous foliar application of MT synthesis inhibitor para-chlorophenylalanine (pCPA). The obtained results indicate that exogenous MT meaningfully alleviated the dwarf phenotype and impeded the reduction in plant growth caused by excess Cu²⁺. Furthermore, MT effect

SUBMITTER: Zhang T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9025625 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature