Exogenous strigolactone alleviates post-waterlogging stress in grapevine

With global climate change, the frequent occurrence of intense rainfall and aggravation of waterlogging disasters have severely threatened the plant growth and fruit quality of grapevines, which are commercially important fruit crops worldwide. There is accordingly an imperative to clarify the responses of grapevine to waterlogging and to propose appropriate remedial measures. Strigolactone (SL) is a phytohormone associated with plant abiotic stress tolerance, while, its function in plant responses to waterlogging stress remain undetermined. In this study, systematic analyses of the morphology, physiology, and transcriptome changes in grapevine leaves and roots under post-waterlogging and GR24 (a synthetic analog of SL) treatments were performed. Morphological and physiological changes in grapevines in response to post-waterlogging stress, including leaf wilting and yellowing, leaf senescence, photosynthesis inhibition, and increased anti-oxidative systems, could be alleviated by the application of GR24. Moreover, transcriptome analysis revealed that the primary gene functions induced by post-waterlogging stress changed over time; however, they were consistently associated with carbohydrate metabolism. The GR24-induced leaf genes were closely associated with carbohydrate metabolism, photosynthesis, antioxidant systems, and hormone signal transduction, which were considered vital aspects that were influenced by GR24 in grapevine to induce post-waterlogging tolerance. Concerning the roots, an enhancement of microtubules and cytoskeleton for cell construction in GR24 application was proposed to facilitate root system recovery after waterlogging. With this study, we comprehend the knowledge regarding the responses of grapevines to post-waterlogging and the ameliorative effect of GR24 with the insight to the transcriptome changes during these processes.