Showing papers by "Sowbiya Muneer published in 2020"

Silicon in Horticultural Crops: Cross-talk, Signaling, and Tolerance Mechanism under Salinity Stress.

Abstract: Agricultural land is extensively affected by salinity stress either due to natural phenomena or by agricultural practices. Saline stress possesses two major threats to crop growth: osmotic stress and oxidative stress. The response of these changes is often accompanied by variety of symptoms, such as the decrease in leaf area and internode length and increase in leaf thickness and succulence, abscission of leaves, and necrosis of root and shoot. Salinity also delays the potential physiological activities, such as photosynthesis, transpiration, phytohormonal functions, metabolic pathways, and gene/protein functions. However, crops in response to salinity stress adopt counter cascade mechanisms to tackle salinity stress incursion, whilst continuous exposure to saline stress overcomes the defense mechanism system which results in cell death and compromises the function of essential organelles in crops. To overcome the salinity, a large number of studies have been conducted on silicon (Si); one of the beneficial elements in the Earth’s crust. Si application has been found to mitigate salinity stress and improve plant growth and development, involving signaling transduction pathways of various organelles and other molecular mechanisms. A large number of studies have been conducted on several agricultural crops, whereas limited information is available on horticultural crops. In the present review article, we have summarized the potential role of Si in mitigating salinity stress in horticultural crops and possible mechanism of Si-associated improvements in them. The present review also scrutinizes the need of future research to evaluate the role of Si and gaps to saline stress in horticultural crops for their improvement.

Proteomic analysis reveals dynamic regulation of fruit ripening in response to exogenous ethylene in kiwifruit cultivars

Abstract: Understanding the fruit ripening mechanism is critical for fruit quality improvement. Although postharvest ethylene application is known to enhance the onset of fruit ripening, the exact mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, a gel-based proteomic analysis was performed to investigate the changes in protein profiles during the ripening of exogenous-ethylene-treated kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) cultivars ‘Hayward’ and ‘Garmrok’. Based on comparative two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, most of the proteins were aggregated in exogenous-ethylene-treated kiwifruit compared to the untreated kiwifruit. Consequently, 90 and 106 proteins were differentially expressed in ‘Hayward’ and ‘Garmrok’ kiwifruit, respectively. Among the successfully identified proteins by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry, the 50% in ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit and 60% in ‘Garmrok’ kiwifruit were associated with ripening. Also, 18% and 10% of proteins were associated with defense response in ‘Hayward’ and ‘Garmrok’ kiwifruit, respectively. The other major proteins were related to protein biosynthesis and photosynthesis/Calvin cycle during kiwifruit ripening. We used bioinformatics analysis to determine the interactions between identified proteins, and this proteomic approach provided insights into biological pathways and molecular functions in postharvest ripening of exogenous-ethylene-treated kiwifruit.