H2S Enhanced Photosynthesis in Response to Drought Stress

Abstract: Drought stress is one of the most serious environmental factors affecting crop yield. It has been known that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as the third gas signal molecular， plays a critical physiological role in responding to drought stress and enhancing plant photosynthesis. However， there are few reports about the regulation mechanisms of endogenous H2S in plant photosynthesis under drought stress. In this study， using Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia-0 wild-type (Col-0， WT)， H2S-producing enzyme encoding gene DES defective mutants (des) and DES over-expression plant (OE-DES) as experimental materials， we investigated the physiological function and mechanism of endogenous H2S signal in photosynthesis of A. thaliana under drought stress. The results showed that， under normal growth conditions， endogenous H2S significantly promoted the increase of net photosynthesis rate， transpiration rate and chlorophyll content in leaves. When the plants were subjected to drought stress， endogenous H2S could significantly up-regulate the genes expression level of Rubisco and Rubisco activase (RCA)， thus protect the chloroplast structure， promote the significant increase of net photosynthesis rate and intercellular CO2 concentration， induce stomatal closure and maintain the corresponding transpiration rate of leaves.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2017.12.0010