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      Melatonin enhances plant growth and abiotic stress tolerance in soybean plants

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          Summary

          We demonstrate, using the seed-coating method, that melatonin promotes soybean growth, seed production, and stress tolerance by regulating cell division, photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and ascorbate metabolism.

          Abstract

          Melatonin is a well-known agent that plays multiple roles in animals. Its possible function in plants is less clear. In the present study, we tested the effect of melatonin ( N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) on soybean growth and development. Coating seeds with melatonin significantly promoted soybean growth as judged from leaf size and plant height. This enhancement was also observed in soybean production and their fatty acid content. Melatonin increased pod number and seed number, but not 100-seed weight. Melatonin also improved soybean tolerance to salt and drought stresses. Transcriptome analysis revealed that salt stress inhibited expressions of genes related to binding, oxidoreductase activity/process, and secondary metabolic processes. Melatonin up-regulated expressions of the genes inhibited by salt stress, and hence alleviated the inhibitory effects of salt stress on gene expressions. Further detailed analysis of the affected pathways documents that melatonin probably achieved its promotional roles in soybean through enhancement of genes involved in cell division, photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and ascorbate metabolism. Our results demonstrate that melatonin has significant potential for improvement of soybean growth and seed production. Further study should uncover more about the molecular mechanisms of melatonin’s function in soybeans and other crops.

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          Most cited references47

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          Melatonin as a natural ally against oxidative stress: a physicochemical examination.

          Oxidative stress has been proven to be related to the onset of a large number of health disorders. This chemical stress is triggered by an excess of free radicals, which are generated in cells because of a wide variety of exogenous and endogenous processes. Therefore, finding strategies for efficiently detoxifying free radicals has become a subject of a great interest, from both an academic and practical points of view. Melatonin is a ubiquitous and versatile molecule that exhibits most of the desirable characteristics of a good antioxidant. The amount of data gathered so far regarding the protective action of melatonin against oxidative stress is overwhelming. However, rather little is known concerning the chemical mechanisms involved in this activity. This review summarizes the current progress in understanding the physicochemical insights related to the free radical-scavenging activity of melatonin. Thus far, there is a general agreement that electron transfer and hydrogen transfer are the main mechanisms involved in the reactions of melatonin with free radicals. However, the relative importance of other mechanisms is also analyzed. The chemical nature of the reacting free radical also has an influence on the relative importance of the different mechanisms of these reactions. Therefore, this point has also been discussed in detail in the current review. Based on the available data, it is concluded that melatonin efficiently protects against oxidative stress by a variety of mechanisms. Moreover, it is proposed that even though it has been referred to as the chemical expression of darkness, perhaps it could also be referred to as the chemical light of health. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
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            On the free radical scavenging activities of melatonin's metabolites, AFMK and AMK.

            The reactions of N(1) -acetyl-N(2) -formyl-5-methoxykynuramine (AFMK) and N(1) -acetyl-5-methoxykynuramine (AMK) with (•) OH, (•) OOH, and •OOCCl3 radicals have been studied using the density functional theory. Three mechanisms of reaction have been considered: radical adduct formation (RAF), hydrogen transfer (HT), and single electron transfer (SET). Their relative importance for the free radical scavenging activity of AFMK and AMK has been assessed. It was found that AFMK and AMK react with •OH at diffusion-limited rates, regardless of the polarity of the environment, which supports their excellent •OH radical scavenging activity. Both compounds were found to be also very efficient for scavenging •OOCCl3 , but rather ineffective for scavenging •OOH. Regarding their relative activity, it was found that AFMK systematically is a poorer scavenger than AMK and melatonin. In aqueous solution, AMK was found to react faster than melatonin with all the studied free radicals, while in nonpolar environments, the relative efficiency of AMK and melatonin as free radical scavengers depends on the radical with which they are reacting. Under such conditions, melatonin is predicted to be a better •OOH and •OOCCl3 scavenger than AMK, while AMK is predicted to be slightly better than melatonin for scavenging •OH. Accordingly it seems that melatonin and its metabolite AMK constitute an efficient team of scavengers able of deactivating a wide variety of reactive oxygen species, under different conditions. Thus, the presented results support the continuous protection exerted by melatonin, through the free radical scavenging cascade. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
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              Identification of melatonin in plants and its effects on plasma melatonin levels and binding to melatonin receptors in vertebrates.

              Twenty-four edible plants were investigated for the presence of melatonin, heretofore considered to be a molecule found only in the animal kingdom. The amount of melatonin in different plants varied greatly with highest melatonin being present in plants of the rice family. Melatonin was identified by radioimmunoassay and verified by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Feeding a diet containing plant products rich in melatonin to chicks increased radioimmunoassayable levels of melatonin in their blood. Likewise, melatonin extracted from plants inhibited binding of [125I]iodomelatonin to rabbit brain. Thus, melatonin ingested in foodstuffs enters the blood and is capable of binding to melatonin binding sites in the brain of mammals.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Exp Bot
                J. Exp. Bot
                jexbot
                exbotj
                Journal of Experimental Botany
                Oxford University Press (UK )
                0022-0957
                1460-2431
                February 2015
                6 October 2014
                6 October 2014
                : 66
                : 3
                : 695-707
                Affiliations
                1State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Chaoyang District, Beichen West Road, Campus #1, No.2, Beijing 100101, China
                2Beijing Key Laboratory of Genome and Precision Medicine Technologies, The DNA Sequencing Technologies R&D Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Chaoyang District, Beichen West Road, Campus #1, No.7, Beijing 100101, China.
                3Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center , San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA
                4Institute of Crop and Nuclear Technology Utilization, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Shiqiao Road No.198, Hangzhou City 310021, China
                Author notes
                * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sychen@ 123456genetics.ac.cn or jszhang@ 123456genetics.ac.cn
                Article
                10.1093/jxb/eru392
                4321538
                25297548
                9d951b6d-0464-40ba-9209-22582434f1b3
                © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Page count
                Pages: 13
                Categories
                Research Paper

                Plant science & Botany
                melatonin,soybean,yield increase,stress tolerance,transcriptome.
                Plant science & Botany
                melatonin, soybean, yield increase, stress tolerance, transcriptome.

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