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LED light mediates phenolic accumulation and enhances antioxidant activity in Melissa officinalis L. under drought stress condition

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Abstract

The popularity of lemon balm in conventional medicine is suggested by the existence of two groups of compounds, namely essential oil and phenylpropanoids pathway derivatives. One of the promising approaches to improve tolerance to drought stress induced oxidative damage in seedlings grown in greenhouses and plant growth chambers is replacing the traditional and high-cost light technologies by recently developed light emitting diodes (LED). In this experiment, we analyzed the role of various LED lights including red (R), blue (B), red (70%) + blue (30%) (RB), and white (W) as well as normal greenhouse light (as control) to stimulate defense mechanisms against drought stress in two genotypes of Melissa officinalis L. The present study demonstrates that pre-treatment with LEDs with high-intensity output for 4 weeks alleviated harmful effects of drought stress in the two genotypes. Under drought stress, RB LED pre-treated plantlets of the two genotypes exhibited the highest relative growth index of shoot and root and total phenolic and anthocyanin content compared to those irradiated with other LEDs and greenhouse lights. The highest amount of malondialdehyde level was detected in R LED exposed plants. In response to drought, LED-exposed plants especially RB light-irradiated plants of the two genotypes maintained significantly higher antioxidant and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) enzyme activities and higher expression level of the PAL1 and 4CL-1 genes compared to those irradiated with greenhouse light. We concluded that RB LED light provides a better growth condition and resistance to drought stress for the two genotypes of lemon balm by the highest antioxidant activity and the least amount of damage to the cell membranes. Our data suggest that LED light pre-treatments as moderate stress activate antioxidant systems, enhance the scavenging of ROS and induce drought stress tolerance in the two genotypes of lemon balm plants.

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Abbreviations

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

B:

Blue LED

CAT:

Catalase

CDNB:

1-Chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene

4CL:

4-Coumarate: CoA ligase

GPX:

Guaiacol peroxidase

GR:

Glutathione reductase

GST:

Glutathione S-transferase

GSSG:

Oxidized glutathione

LED:

Light-emitting diode

LSD:

Least significant difference

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NBT:

Nitroblue tetrazolium

PAL:

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase

POX:

Peroxidase

PPF:

Photosynthetic photon flux

R:

Red LED

RA:

Rosmarinic acid

RB:

Red + blue LED

RGI:

Relative growth index

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RWC:

Relative water content

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

TBA:

Thiobarbituric

W:

White LED

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the Research Council of the University of Shahrekord, SKU (grant number: 97GRD1M1032).

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Conceived and designed the experiments: Leila Shabani, Mohammad R. Sabzalian. Performed the experiments: Tayebeh Ahmadi. Analyzed the data: Tayebeh Ahmadi, Leila Shabani, Mohammad R. Sabzalian. Wrote the paper: Tayebeh Ahmadi, Leila Shabani, Mohammad R. Sabzalian. Edited the manuscript: Leila Shabani, Mohammad R. Sabzalian.

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Correspondence to Leila Shabani.

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Ahmadi, T., Shabani, L. & Sabzalian, M.R. LED light mediates phenolic accumulation and enhances antioxidant activity in Melissa officinalis L. under drought stress condition. Protoplasma 257, 1231–1242 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-020-01501-4

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