The involvement of abscisic acid in hydrogen gas-enhanced drought resistance in tomato seedlings

Abstract Hydrogen gas (H2) regulates plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Abscisic acid (ABA) might alleviate the adverse effects of drought stress. However, the mechanisms by which ABA and H2 ameliorate plant drought stress are unclear. Here, tomato “Micro-Tom” seedlings were used to investigate the interaction between H2 and ABA under drought conditions. The results showed that both hydrogen-rich water (HRW) and ABA increased plant height, stem diameter and root activity of tomato seedlings under drought stress, with optimal concentrations of 75% and 150 μM, respectively. HRW or ABA treatment was able to enhance drought tolerance by increasing photosynthesis, antioxidant enzyme activity and gene expression of antioxidant enzymes under drought stress. Fluridone (FLU), a synthetic inhibitor of ABA, significantly diminished the positive effects of HRW on plant height, stem diameter and root activity under drought stress, suggesting that ABA might play a crucial role in H2-enhanced drought resistance in tomato seedlings. The results revealed that the ABA content in the PEG + HRW treatment was 18% higher than that in the polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment alone. Furthermore, we found that H2 enhanced endogenous ABA content by increasing zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP), 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) and abscisic aldehyde oxidase (AAO) activities and the expression of SlZEP, SlNCED, and SlAAO. PEG + HRW treatment increased ZEP and NCED activities, which were 13% and 40% higher than those of PEG treatment, respectively. Meanwhile, the transcription levels of SlSnRK2 and SlAREB were upregulated by HRW or ABA under drought stress, whereas this upregulation was reversed by FLU. Thus, our results demonstrate that H2 was able to enhance drought resistance by regulating ABA biosynthesis and the expression of ABA signal transduction genes in tomato seedlings.