Lupeol, a plant triterpenoid mitigates salt induced stress: growth and antioxidative response of Brassica nigra under in vitro condition

• Published in: Plant cell, tissue and organ culture tissue and organ culture, 2023-08, Vol.154 (2), p.327-335
• Main Authors: Zia, Muhammad, Ali, Joham Sarfraz, Hanif, Saad, Sajjad, Anila, Abbasi, Bilal Haider
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnological Tools for Abiotic Stress Tolerance; Brassica; Brassica nigra; Flavonoids; Free radicals; Life Sciences; Original Article; Phenols; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant protection; Plant Sciences; Roots; Salinity; Salinity effects; Salinity tolerance; Salts; Scavenging; Sodium chloride; Stress
• ISSN: 0167-6857; 1573-5044
• DOI: 10.1007/s11240-022-02405-2

Abiotic stresses particularly salinity has adverse impact on plants growth and yield. However stress mitigating molecules alleviate plant verdure. Extensive research has revealed several important pharmacological activities of lupeol, a plant triterpenoid. However the interaction of lupeol with plants has not been studied yet. In this study lupeol was applied as salinity stress mitigating agent. Morphological and biochemical (enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants) attributes of Brassica nigra have been analyzed under in vitro conditions . Salt (NaCl) stress (25–100 mg/L) resulted in decrease in root length, shoot length, number of roots and dry weight in dose dependent manner. Application of lupeol alleviated the salinity stress and enhanced the plant length and biomass traits. The free radical scavenging potential and antioxidative response decreased when lupeol was applied along with salt stress as compared to positive control. Phenolics and flavonoids concentrations in plant parts that were observed elevated on salt stress only also decreased when lupeol was applied along with salt. Incorporation of salt in the media resulted in increase of antioxidative enzymes both in shoot and roots however the level of POD and SOD significantly varied on application of lupeol in salt augmented media. The study supports the role of lupeol in protecting the plant from oxidative damage and modulating the stress causing cell redox balance. Key Message It is the first report on efficacy of lupeol as salt stress mitigating molecule in plants.