The ameliorative effect of seed priming with salicylic acid (SA) on Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ induced stress responses in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was evaluated using biochemical and computational approaches. The results suggested that Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ stress in wheat seedlings in absence of SA priming resulted in significant inhibition of growth, biomass loss with high accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to oxidative stress and inactivation of antioxidant metabolism. Wheat seeds primed with SA ameliorated the effects of Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ induced stress by maintaining appropriate growth and biomass of the seedlings. Moreover, when compared to the SA non-primed wheat seedlings, the levels of ROS and oxidative stress load were low in SA-primed seedlings subjected to Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ stress, which clearly indicated an ameliorative effect of seed priming with SA. Though, significant variation of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was not observed in wheat seedlings under stress conditions, and the non-enzymatic antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (AsA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) showed higher levels in SA-primed seedlings as compared to non-primed groups. The computational (molecular docking) analysis with Cu–Zn–SOD, Mn–SOD and CAT as target enzymes revealed that SA may potentially interfere with the binding and interaction of Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions with the active site of Cu–Zn–SOD effectively. Though, this computational analysis is based on structures of the targets derived through homology modeling, nevertheless it fundamentally substantiated our experimental findings on CAT and SOD activities.

使用生化和计算方法评估了水杨酸 (SA) 种子引发对小麦 ( Triticum aestivum L. ) Cr ⁶⁺和 Zn ²⁺诱导的胁迫反应的改善作用。结果表明，在没有 SA 启动的情况下，小麦幼苗中的Cr ⁶⁺和 Zn ²⁺胁迫导致生长显着抑制、生物量损失以及活性氧 (ROS) 的大量积累，导致氧化应激和抗氧化代谢失活。用 SA 处理的小麦种子改善了 Cr ⁶⁺和 Zn ^{2+ 的影响}通过保持幼苗的适当生长和生物量来诱导胁迫。此外，与未引发 SA 的小麦幼苗相比，添加了 Cr ⁶⁺和 Zn ^{2+ 的}SA 引发的幼苗的 ROS 水平和氧化应激负荷较低胁迫，这清楚地表明用 SA 引发种子的改善作用。然而，在胁迫条件下，小麦幼苗中未观察到过氧化氢酶（CAT）和超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）等抗氧化酶的显着变异，而抗坏血酸（AsA）和还原型谷胱甘肽（GSH）等非酶抗氧化剂表现出更高与未引发组相比，SA 引发的幼苗中的水平。以 Cu-Zn-SOD、Mn-SOD 和 CAT 作为靶酶的计算（分子对接）分析表明，SA 可能会干扰 Cr ⁶⁺和 Zn ²⁺的结合和相互作用具有 Cu-Zn-SOD 活性位点的离子有效。虽然，这种计算分析是基于通过同源建模得出的目标结构，但它从根本上证实了我们对 CAT 和 SOD 活动的实验结果。