Does seed priming play a role in regulating reactive oxygen species under saline conditions?

Abstract

Salinity-induced oxidative stress results in the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. ROS impair the cellular functions due to their oxidative reactions with membrane lipids and proteins, nucleic acids, proteins as well as enzyme inactivation, and eventually leads to cell death. Many studies have been shown that seed priming is a shotgun approach that has been used effectively to improve seed germination, seedling emergence, later plant growth and development and tolerance to salt stress. Evidence reports that one important mechanism of seed priming effects that remains and lasts on plants after germination is induction of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant machinery that scavenge ROS to non-injurious level. Primed plants produced from treated seeds thus are more tolerant to saline conditions for the whole growing season, and priming-induced events have been shown to be even extended to the next generation. Seed priming mode of action, however, is not fully understood and would be of great significance for plant stress physiology research to fully elucidate the mechanisms. Despite that, possible physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms underlying the positive role of seed priming and ROS are discussed in this chapter.