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Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Efficiency of antioxidant system in barrel medic (Medicago truncatula) genotypes and the orchestration of their key components under iron deficiency

Nadia Kallala A B , Wissal M’sehli https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9554-4494 A , Khaoula Mkadmini Hammi C , Ghassen Abid A and Haythem Mhadhbi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-4269 A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Laboratory of Legumes and Sustainable Agrosystems, Centre of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria, (L2AD, CBBC) P. B. 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.

B University Tunis El Manar (UTM), Faculty of Sciences of Tunis (FST), 2092 Tunis, Tunisia.

C Laboratory of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Biotechnology Centre of Borj-Cedria, Hammam-Lif 2050, Tunisia.

D Corresponding author. Email: mhadhbihay@yahoo.fr

Crop and Pasture Science - https://doi.org/10.1071/CP21041
Submitted: 22 January 2021  Accepted: 21 April 2021   Published online: 14 July 2021

Abstract

Iron (Fe) deficiency leads to an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants that activate their antioxidant systems to control oxidative burst. In this study, contrasting Medicago truncatula genotypes, A17 and TN8.20 (tolerant) and TN1.11 (sensitive), were grown under Fe deficiency. The superoxide dismutase (SOD: EC1.15.1.1) activity, their isoforms’ coding genes, the copper chaperone expression patterns, and leaf phenolic contents were analysed. Our results showed that Fe deficiency decreases the photosynthetic capacity and plant biomass production with a prominent effect on TN1.11 genotype. The tolerance of A17 and TN8.20 was correlated with a maintenance of Fe content and the photosynthetic apparatus and an increase of Cu concentration compared with the sensitive genotype. We revealed a significant increase of H2O2 in Fe-deficient plants, mainly in TN1.11 sensitive genotype. TN8.20 and A17 tolerance were concomitant with a significant increase of SOD activities (SOD, Cu/Zn-SOD, and Mn-SOD) under Fe deficiency. This increment was correlated to an induction of the copper chaperone gene expression level, as well as an accumulation of isoquercitin phenolic compound. Our study provides new insights into the orchestration of SOD’s isoforms activities, the expression of the copper chaperone, FeSOD, Cu/ZnSOD genes, and the leaf phenolic compounds accumulation that allows Medicago truncatula to overcome Fe deficiency.

Keywords: antioxidant capacity, gene expression, genotype variation, Fe starvation, legumes, Medicago truncatula.


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