Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products

Abiotic stress, such as salt and osmotic stress, negatively impacts plant growth and productivity, making it crucial to explore sustainable solutions that can improve plant resilience. In this study, we investigated the effects of a biostimulant formulation containing betalain degradation products (...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Noemi Gatti, Graziella Serio, Moez Maghrebi, Carla Gentile, Cinzia M. Bertea, Giuseppe Mannino
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Current Plant Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214662825000064
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850195360653246464
author Noemi Gatti
Graziella Serio
Moez Maghrebi
Carla Gentile
Cinzia M. Bertea
Giuseppe Mannino
author_facet Noemi Gatti
Graziella Serio
Moez Maghrebi
Carla Gentile
Cinzia M. Bertea
Giuseppe Mannino
author_sort Noemi Gatti
collection DOAJ
description Abiotic stress, such as salt and osmotic stress, negatively impacts plant growth and productivity, making it crucial to explore sustainable solutions that can improve plant resilience. In this study, we investigated the effects of a biostimulant formulation containing betalain degradation products (BDPs) on the growth and stress resistance of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings subjected to salt stress (SS) and osmotic stress (OS) conditions. Specifically, we fortified the medium culture of stressed seedlings with 0.02, 0.10, and 0.20 mg/mL of BDPs-enriched biostimulant, revealing significant improvements in growth and biomass under both SS and OS conditions, with the most notable effects in OS condition. In this study, we applied these findings to stress conditions, demonstrating that treatment with the formulation containing BDP-related compounds significantly enhanced seedling growth and biomass in both salt stress (SS) and osmotic stress (OS) environments, with the most significant effects observed in OS conditions. Specifically, seedlings treated with 0.20 mg/mL of BDP-enriched biostimulant exhibited growth increases of up to 150 % under OS conditions and a 116 % increase under SS conditions, restoring growth metrics comparable to control conditions. We analyzed the impact of the formulation on the dynamics of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the activities of antioxidant enzyme, revealing that BDP-containing formulation effectively balanced ROS levels by modulating superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and the glutathione peroxidase-glutathione reductase (GPX-GR) system in both stress conditions. Furthermore, BDP-containing formulation affected proline metabolism by reducing its accumulation under stress conditions and enhancing proline catabolism, as demonstrated by the upregulation of the genes for proline dehydrogenase (PDH), pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase (P5CDH), and ornithine aminotransferase (OAT). These findings suggest that the biostimulant enriched in BDP-related compounds enhanced the resilience of Arabidopsis seedlings to abiotic stress by regulating both oxidative stress responses and proline metabolism, highlighting their potential applications for improving crop tolerance to challenging environmental conditions.
format Article
id doaj-art-c34af10ff115498791cc60c3e6f1fa9e
institution OA Journals
issn 2214-6628
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Current Plant Biology
spelling doaj-art-c34af10ff115498791cc60c3e6f1fa9e2025-08-20T02:13:45ZengElsevierCurrent Plant Biology2214-66282025-03-014110043810.1016/j.cpb.2025.100438Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation productsNoemi Gatti0Graziella Serio1Moez Maghrebi2Carla Gentile3Cinzia M. Bertea4Giuseppe Mannino5Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, Plant Physiology Unit, University of Turin, Via Quarello 15/A, Turin 10135, ItalyDepartment of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Palermo 90128, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, Plant Physiology Unit, University of Turin, Via Quarello 15/A, Turin 10135, ItalyDepartment of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Palermo 90128, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, Plant Physiology Unit, University of Turin, Via Quarello 15/A, Turin 10135, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, Plant Physiology Unit, University of Turin, Via Quarello 15/A, Turin 10135, Italy; Corresponding author.Abiotic stress, such as salt and osmotic stress, negatively impacts plant growth and productivity, making it crucial to explore sustainable solutions that can improve plant resilience. In this study, we investigated the effects of a biostimulant formulation containing betalain degradation products (BDPs) on the growth and stress resistance of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings subjected to salt stress (SS) and osmotic stress (OS) conditions. Specifically, we fortified the medium culture of stressed seedlings with 0.02, 0.10, and 0.20 mg/mL of BDPs-enriched biostimulant, revealing significant improvements in growth and biomass under both SS and OS conditions, with the most notable effects in OS condition. In this study, we applied these findings to stress conditions, demonstrating that treatment with the formulation containing BDP-related compounds significantly enhanced seedling growth and biomass in both salt stress (SS) and osmotic stress (OS) environments, with the most significant effects observed in OS conditions. Specifically, seedlings treated with 0.20 mg/mL of BDP-enriched biostimulant exhibited growth increases of up to 150 % under OS conditions and a 116 % increase under SS conditions, restoring growth metrics comparable to control conditions. We analyzed the impact of the formulation on the dynamics of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the activities of antioxidant enzyme, revealing that BDP-containing formulation effectively balanced ROS levels by modulating superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and the glutathione peroxidase-glutathione reductase (GPX-GR) system in both stress conditions. Furthermore, BDP-containing formulation affected proline metabolism by reducing its accumulation under stress conditions and enhancing proline catabolism, as demonstrated by the upregulation of the genes for proline dehydrogenase (PDH), pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase (P5CDH), and ornithine aminotransferase (OAT). These findings suggest that the biostimulant enriched in BDP-related compounds enhanced the resilience of Arabidopsis seedlings to abiotic stress by regulating both oxidative stress responses and proline metabolism, highlighting their potential applications for improving crop tolerance to challenging environmental conditions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214662825000064BiostimulantAntioxidant EnzymesProlinePhytohormonesGene ExpressionAbiotic stress
spellingShingle Noemi Gatti
Graziella Serio
Moez Maghrebi
Carla Gentile
Cinzia M. Bertea
Giuseppe Mannino
Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products
Current Plant Biology
Biostimulant
Antioxidant Enzymes
Proline
Phytohormones
Gene Expression
Abiotic stress
title Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products
title_full Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products
title_fullStr Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products
title_full_unstemmed Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products
title_short Biochemical and biomolecular response of Arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress: Mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products
title_sort biochemical and biomolecular response of arabidopsis seedlings to osmotic and salt stress mitigation by biostimulant formulation enriched in betalain degradation products
topic Biostimulant
Antioxidant Enzymes
Proline
Phytohormones
Gene Expression
Abiotic stress
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214662825000064
work_keys_str_mv AT noemigatti biochemicalandbiomolecularresponseofarabidopsisseedlingstoosmoticandsaltstressmitigationbybiostimulantformulationenrichedinbetalaindegradationproducts
AT graziellaserio biochemicalandbiomolecularresponseofarabidopsisseedlingstoosmoticandsaltstressmitigationbybiostimulantformulationenrichedinbetalaindegradationproducts
AT moezmaghrebi biochemicalandbiomolecularresponseofarabidopsisseedlingstoosmoticandsaltstressmitigationbybiostimulantformulationenrichedinbetalaindegradationproducts
AT carlagentile biochemicalandbiomolecularresponseofarabidopsisseedlingstoosmoticandsaltstressmitigationbybiostimulantformulationenrichedinbetalaindegradationproducts
AT cinziambertea biochemicalandbiomolecularresponseofarabidopsisseedlingstoosmoticandsaltstressmitigationbybiostimulantformulationenrichedinbetalaindegradationproducts
AT giuseppemannino biochemicalandbiomolecularresponseofarabidopsisseedlingstoosmoticandsaltstressmitigationbybiostimulantformulationenrichedinbetalaindegradationproducts