On the molecular mechanisms of plant response to prie-sowing seed treatment with cold plasma and electromagnetic field

Abstract

New emerging interdisciplinary field of research on cold plasma (CP) and electromagnetic field (EF) applications for agriculture is directed towards exploiting of the potential of plant functional plasticity. Numerous studies reported that seed stress induced by treatment with CP and EF leads to improved seed germination, faster seedling growth and other beneficial effects. However, until now the weakest point in this area is lack of detailed information on the molecular processes involved in plant response to seed treatments. Our recent studies were focused on considering the observed plant responses in the context of basic principles of seed physiology and development. The experiments were performed on perennial woody species (black mulberry, Morus nigra L.; Smirnov’s rhododendron, Rhododendron smirnowii Trautv.; Norway spruce, Picea abies), perennial medicinal plants (purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench; red clover, Trifolium pratense L.) and annual plant species (sunflower, Helianthus annuus; thale cress, Arabidopsis thaliana; radish Raphanus sativus; common buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum). We report novel findings important for understanding of CP and EF effects in the context of seed physiology and molecular processes: (1) the extent of the observed effects on germination is dependent on seed dormancy status characterized by seed hormonal balance (the most important is ratio between absisic acid, ABA and gibberrelins, GA) and we showed that seed treatment with CP and EF induce rapid decrease in ABA/GA ratio indicating that CP and EF are extremely powerful dormancy breaking agents; (2) seed treatments with CP and EF modulate H2O2 production in germinating seeds of P. abies, so that CP treatments inhibiting germination decrease ROS generation while EF treatments stimulating germination result in increased ROS generation; [...]