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Extracts from the brown seaweed, Ascophyllum nodosum (ANE), are extensively used as plant biostimulants. Ascophyllum nodosum extracts, as applied to plants, impart resistance/tolerance against various abiotic and biotic stresses due to the presence of multiple biological primers and elicitors. However, little information is available on the effects of ANE on insect pests of crops. Green peach aphid (GPA), Myzus persicae, is an important insect pest and used as an insect model to study insect-plant interactions. In this study, Arabidopsis thaliana was used as a model plant to determine whether application of an ANE conferred any protection from a GPA infestation. Plants treated with ANE had a 13% greater GPA population than the inorganic-treated control. Feeding preference of GPA was not influenced by ANE treatment when the insect was given a choice between the ANE-treated and control plants. Higher plant biomass was observed in ANE treatments with a GPA infestation, as compared to the control. Plants treated with ANE demonstrated better recovery from GPA infestation, as shown by a higher seed yield. Apart from higher GPA numbers, ANE-treated plants exhibited reduced plant tissue damage around the feeding area. Lower expressions of SAG13 and SAG 21 genes indicated that ANE-treated plants delayed their senescence in Arabidopsis. We concluded that treatment of ANE conferred protection from the GPA biotic pressure, while delaying senescence in treated Arabidopsis. Increased GPA numbers, on treated plants could be, in part, associated with delayed senescence of Arabidopsis plants following ANE application.

Ascophyllum nodosum is a large and common brown alga. The fronds are olive-brown but can appear yellowish when stressed. It is a common, intertidal species around the periphery of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is particularly common on the north-western coast of Europe (from Svalbard to Portugal), including east Greenland, Iceland and the NE coast of N America (from New York to Newfoundland). This intertidal fucoid has long fronds with large egg-shaped airbladders. The fronds can reach 2 m (extremes of 5–7 m) in length. Depending on nutrient availability, the fronds are yellow, and at low tide, they can form extensive beds appearing to be monospecific to the casual observer. This seaweed is long lived and can be a dominant, climax community species of the middle shore. Ascophyllum nodosum is very effective at accumulating nutrients and minerals from the surrounding seawater. Due to the presence of many bioactive components, its harvested biomass is a valuable resource for human enterprise. This species is exploited for use in products such as food, fertiliser, soil conditioners, biostimulants (for phyco-elicitors), animal feed, skin and hair care products, cleaners, de-greasers, equestrian products and nutritional supplements. It is also a popular ingredient in cosmetology and thalassotherapy.

Most of the world’s seaweed-derived extracts used for their biostimulatory/bioeffector properties for plants (i.e., abiotic and biotic stress reduction) are manufactured from brown algae, generally harvested from wild populations, or collected as storm-cast (e.g., Ascophyllum, Durvillaea, Ecklonia, Laminaria/Saccharina, Sargassum, etc.). Extracts of seaweeds have been applied for their phyconomic activities, including the micropropagation and cultivation of the red seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii. These uses are increasingly important for the future success of sustainable, global, marine (blue) circular economies whereby applications of extracts have demonstrable biostimulatory/bioeffector properties for the benefits of mass cultivated, commercial seaweeds, thereby mirroring their use for land plants.

Sustainable agricultural practices increasingly demand novel, environmentally friendly compounds which induce plant immunity against pathogens. Stimulating plant immunity using seaweed extracts is a highly viable strategy, as these formulations contain many bio-elicitors (phyco-elicitors) which can significantly boost natural plant immunity. Certain bioactive elicitors present in a multitude of extracts of seaweeds (both commercially available and bench-scale laboratory formulations) activate pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) due to their structural similarity (i.e., analogous structure) with pathogen-derived molecules. This is achieved via the priming and/or elicitation of the defense responses of the induced systemic resistance (ISR) and systemic acquired resistance (SAR) pathways. Knowledge accumulated over the past few decades is reviewed here, aiming to explain why certain seaweed-derived bioactives have such tremendous potential to elicit plant defense responses with considerable economic significance, particularly with increasing biotic stress impacts due to climate change and the concomitant move to sustainable agriculture and away from synthetic chemistry and environmental damage. Various extracts of seaweeds display remarkably different modes of action(s) which can manipulate the plant defense responses when applied. This review focuses on both the similarities and differences amongst the modes of actions of several different seaweed extracts, as well as their individual components. Novel biotechnological approaches for the development of new commercial products for crop protection, in a sustainable manner, are also suggested.

Extracts of the brown alga, Ascophyllum nodosum, are widely used as plant biostimulants to improve growth and to impart tolerance against abiotic stresses. However, the molecular mechanisms by which A. nodosum extract (ANE) mediates stress tolerance are still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to study selected anti-stress mechanisms at the transcriptome level. We show that methanolic sub-fractions of ANE improved growth of Arabidopsis thaliana under NaCl stress; biomass increased by approximately 50% under 100 mM and 150 mM NaCl, relative to the control. Bioassay-guided fractionation revealed that the ethyl acetate sub-fraction of ANE (EAA) had the majority of stress alleviating, bioactive components. Microarray analysis showed that EAA elicited substantial changes in the global transcriptome on day 1 and day 5, after treatment. On day one, 184 genes were up-regulated while this number increased to 257 genes on day 5. On the other hand, 91 and 262 genes were down-regulated on day 1 and day 5, respectively. On day 1, 2.2% of the genes altered were abiotic stress regulated and this increased to 6% on day 5. EAA modulate the expression of number of the genes involved in stress responses, carbohydrate metabolism, and phenylpropanoid metabolism. Thus, our results suggested that bioactive components in the ethyl acetate fraction of A. nodosum induced salinity tolerance in A. thaliana by modulating the expression of a plethora of stress-responsive genes, providing a better understanding of the mechanisms through which ANE mediates tolerance by plants to salinity stress.

Abiotic and biotic stresses limit the growth and productivity of plants. In the current global scenario, in order to meet the requirements of the ever-increasing world population, chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are used to boost agricultural production. These harmful chemicals pose a serious threat to the health of humans, animals, plants, and the entire biosphere. To minimize the agricultural chemical footprint, extracts of Ascophyllum nodosum (ANE) have been explored for their ability to improve plant growth and agricultural productivity. The scientific literature reviewed in this article attempts to explain how certain bioactive compounds present in extracts aid to improve plant tolerances to abiotic and/or biotic stresses, plant growth promotion, and their effects on root/microbe interactions. These reports have highlighted the use of various seaweed extracts in improving nutrient use efficiency in treated plants. These studies include investigations of physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms as evidenced using model plants. However, the various modes of action of A. nodosum extracts have not been previously reviewed. The information presented in this review depicts the multiple, beneficial effects of A. nodosum-based biostimulant extracts on plant growth and their defense responses and suggests new opportunities for further applications for marked benefits in production and quality in the agriculture and horticultural sectors.

Ascophyllum nodosum extract (ANE) contains bioactive compounds that improve the growth of Arabidopsis in experimentally-induced saline conditions; however, the molecular mechanisms through which ANE elicits tolerance to salinity remain largely unexplored. Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of gene expression, playing crucial roles in plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. Next generation sequencing of miRNAs from leaves of control Arabidopsis and from plants subjected to three treatments (ANE, NaCl and ANE+NaCl) was used to identify ANE-responsive miRNA in the absence and presence of saline conditions. Differential gene expression analysis revealed that ANE had a strong effect on miRNAs expression in both conditions. In the presence of salinity, ANE tended to reduce the up-regulation or the down-regulation trend induced caused by NaCl in miRNAs such as ath-miR396a-5p, ath-miR399, ath-miR2111b and ath-miR827. To further uncover the effects of ANE, the expression of several target genes of a number of ANE-responsive miRNAs was analyzed by qPCR. NaCl, but not ANE, down-regulated miR396a-5p, which negatively regulated the expression of AtGRF7 leading to a higher expression of AtDREB2a and AtRD29 in the presence of ANE+NaCl, as compared to ANE alone. ANE+NaCl initially reduced and then enhanced the expression of ath-miR169g-5p, while the expression of the target genes AtNFYA1 and ATNFYA2, known to be involved in the salinity tolerance mechanism, was increased as compared to ANE or to NaCl treatments. ANE and ANE+NaCl modified the expression of ath-miR399, ath-miR827, ath-miR2111b, and their target genes AtUBC24, AtWAK2, AtSYG1 and At3g27150, suggesting a role of ANE in phosphate homeostasis. In vivo and in vitro experiments confirmed the improved growth of Arabidopsis in presence of ANE, in saline conditions and in phosphate-deprived medium, further substantiating the influence of ANE on a variety of essential physiological processes in Arabidopsis including salinity tolerance and phosphate uptake.

Leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach are prone to significant post-harvest losses during handling and storage. The pre-harvest treatment of crops with biostimulants offers a sustainable strategy for reducing post-harvest losses. Earlier studies focused on the effect of plant biostimulants applied individually. In this study, we studied the efficacy of a combined application of two commonly used plant biostimulants: Ascophyllum nodosum extract (ANE) and humic acid (HA). Interestingly, the combination of both biostimulants improved early growth of lettuce and spinach compared to ANE and HA alone. Among the combinations used in this study, 0.25% ANE + 0.2% HA produced significantly higher fresh and dry biomass in lettuce and spinach compared to the other treatments and the control. Pre-harvest treatment of combination of 0.25% ANE and 0.2% HA significantly reduced the loss of fresh biomass during post-harvest storage. The combination of 0.25% ANE and 0.2% HA reduced lipid peroxidation during storage with an increase in total ascorbate, phenolic, and antioxidant capacity of spinach and lettuce. These results suggest that a combination of ANE and HA reduces post-harvest losses of spinach and lettuce more effectively than when applied individually.

SbMYB15, R2R3-type MYB was induced by the different stresses, and conferred stress tolerance in transgenic tobacco by regulating the expression of stress-responsive genes. MYBs are the master regulators of various metabolic processes and stress responses in plants. In this study, we functionally characterised a R2R3-type SbMYB15 transcription factor (TF) from the extreme halophyte Salicornia brachiata. The SbMYB15 acts as a transcriptional activator. Transcriptional analysis showed that SbMYB15 transcript was strongly upregulated in red shoots and was also induced by different stresses; however, its expression remained unchanged with ABA. Overexpression of SbMYB15 in tobacco significantly improved salinity and dehydration tolerance. The enhanced tolerance of the transgenic plants was defined by the changes in chlorophyll, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, total soluble sugar and total amino acid contents. The transgenic plants exhibited a higher membrane stability and reduced electrolyte leakage, H2O2 and O 2 (-) content compared to the wild type (WT). With ionic stress, transgenics showed a low Na(+) and a high K(+) content. In the transgenic plants, the expression of stress-responsive genes such as LEA5, ERD10D, PLC3, LTP1, HSF2, ADC, P5CS, SOD and CAT was enhanced in the presence of salinity, dehydration and heat. Exposure to gradual salinity and dehydration resulted in an increased stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, photosynthesis rate, photochemical quenching and reduced transpiration rate. Thus, SbMYB15 served as an important mediator of stress responses regulating different stress signalling pathways, leading to enhanced stress tolerance.

Ascophyllum nodosum extract (ANE) improved growth of soybean plants under drought stress. ANE treatment resulted in an increase in stomatal conductance and anti-oxidant activity in the leaf tissue. The application of ANE also modulated the expression of stress-responsive genes that ultimately resulted in improved growth under drought stress conditions. The results suggest ANE amplifies the plants' natural response to drought stress through change in the pattern of expression of stress response genes. This might be one plausible mode of action of ANE., There is an increasing global concern about the availability of water for agricultural use. Drought stress negatively impacts plant physiology and crop productivity. Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the important oilseed crops, and its productivity is often reduced by drought. In this study, a commercial extract of Ascophyllum nodosum (ANE) was evaluated for its potential to alleviate drought stress in soybean. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ANE on the response of soybean plants to drought stress by monitoring stomatal conductance, relative leaf water content, antioxidant activity and expression of stress-responsive genes. Plants treated with ANE had higher relative water content and higher stomatal conductance under drought stress. During early recovery in the post-drought phase, ANE treated plants had significantly higher stomatal conductance. The antioxidant activity was also found higher in the plants treated with ANE. In addition, ANE-treatment led to changes in the expression of stress-responsive genes: GmCYP707A1a, GmCYP707A3b, GmRD22, GmRD20, GmDREB1B, GmERD1, GmNFYA3, FIB1a, GmPIP1b, GmGST, GmBIP and GmTp55. Taken together, these results suggest that applications of ANE improve the drought tolerance of soybean by changing physiology and gene expression.

International audience

International audience; Biodegradation of lobster shells by chitinolytic microorganisms are an environment safe approach to utilize lobster processing wastes for chitin derivation. In this study, we report degradation activities of two microbes, " S223 " and " S224 " isolated from soil samples that had the highest rate of deproteinization, demineralization and chitinolysis among ten microorganisms screened. Isolates S223 and S224 had 27.3 and 103.8 protease units mg −1 protein and 12.3 and 11.2 µg ml −1 of calcium in their samples, respectively, after 1 week of incubation with raw lobster shells. Further, S223 contained 23.8 µg ml −1 of N-Acetylglucosamine on day 3, while S224 had 27.3 µg ml −1 on day 7 of incubation with chitin. Morphological observations and 16S rDNA sequencing suggested both the isolates were Streptomyces. The culture conditions were optimized for efficient degradation of lobster shells and chitinase (∼30 kDa) was purified from crude extract by affinity chromatography. The digested lobster shell extracts induced disease resistance in Arabidopsis by induction of defense related genes (PR1 > 500-fold, PDF1.2 > 40-fold) upon Pseudomonas syringae and Botrytis cinerea infection. The study suggests that soil microbes aid in sustainable bioconversion of lobster shells and extraction of chitin derivatives that could be applied in plant protection.

Direct in vitro plantlet regeneration was studied in cucumber (Cucumis sativus), an important vegetable crop. The endogenous auxin concentration was quantified by HPLC in young cotyledon explants, and we observed that higher auxin content promotes callusing and inhibits direct shoot regeneration. Lowering the endogenous auxin concentration by the application of the auxin inhibitor 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA), as confirmed by HPLC, increased the frequency of shoot regeneration. The auxin content was reduced by increasing the concentration of TIBA in cvs. Pant Kheera 1 and Pusa Uday. Regeneration efficiencies were dependent on explant age and cultivar. The 2-d-old explants gave the highest regeneration efficiencies, with Pusa Uday showing higher regeneration potential than PK-1. Shoot buds/small shoots transferred to Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1 μM 6-benzylaminopurine grew vigorously and attained 1- to 2-cm length in 4 wk. These shoots rooted with 100% efficiency on MS basal medium or MS basal medium supplemented with 0.5 μM indole-3-acetic acid. The hardened plants showed normal growth and flowering under greenhouse conditions.

Genetic engineering of plants for abiotic stress tolerance is a challenging task because of its multifarious nature. Comprehensive studies for developing abiotic stress tolerance are in progress, involving genes from different pathways including osmolyte synthesis, ion homeostasis, antioxidative pathways, and regulatory genes. In the last decade, several attempts have been made to substantiate the role of "single-function" gene(s) as well as transcription factor(s) for abiotic stress tolerance. Since, the abiotic stress tolerance is multigenic in nature, therefore, the recent trend is shifting towards genetic transformation of multiple genes or transcription factors. A large number of crop plants are being engineered by abiotic stress tolerant genes and have shown the stress tolerance mostly at laboratory level. This review presents a mechanistic view of different pathways and emphasizes the function of different genes in conferring salt tolerance by genetic engineering approach. It also highlights the details of successes achieved in developing salt tolerance in plants thus far.

Salinity adversely affects plant growth and development. Halotolerant plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) alleviate salt stress and help plants to maintain better growth. In the present study, six PGPR strains were analyzed for their involvement in salt-stress tolerance in Arachis hypogaea. Different growth parameters, electrolyte leakage, water content, biochemical properties, and ion content were analyzed in the PGPR-inoculated plants under 100 mM NaCl. Three bacterial strains, namely, Brachybacteriumsaurashtrense (JG-06), Brevibacteriumcasei (JG-08), and Haererohalobacter (JG-11), showed the best growth of A. hypogaea seedlings under salt stress. Plant length, shoot length, root length, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, and total biomass were significantly higher in inoculated plants compared to uninoculated plants. The PGPR-inoculated plants were quite healthy and hydrated, whereas the uninoculated plant leaves were desiccated in the presence of 100 mM NaCl. The percentage water content (PWC) in the shoots and roots was also significantly higher in inoculated plants compared to uninoculated plants. Proline content and soluble sugars were significantly low, whereas amino acids were higher than in uninoculated plants. The MDA content was higher in uninoculated plants than in inoculated plants at 100 mM NaCl. The inoculated plants also had a higher K+/Na+ ratio and higher Ca2+, phosphorus, and nitrogen content. The auxin concentration was higher in both shoot and root explants in the inoculated plants. Therefore, it could be predicted that all these parameters cumulatively improve plant growth under saline conditions in the presence of PGPR. This study shows that PGPR play an important role in inducing salinity tolerance in plants and can be used to grow salt-sensitive crops in saline areas.

Background Soil salinity adversely affects plant growth and development and disturbs intracellular ion homeostasis resulting cellular toxicity. The Salt Overly Sensitive 1 (SOS1) gene encodes a plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter that plays an important role in imparting salt stress tolerance to plants. Here, we report the cloning and characterisation of the SbSOS1 gene from Salicornia brachiata, an extreme halophyte. Results The SbSOS1 gene is 3774 bp long and encodes a protein of 1159 amino acids. SbSOS1 exhibited a greater level of constitutive expression in roots than in shoots and was further increased by salt stress. Overexpressing the S. brachiata SbSOS1 gene in tobacco conferred high salt tolerance, promoted seed germination and increased root length, shoot length, leaf area, fresh weight, dry weight, relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll, K+/Na+ ratio, membrane stability index, soluble sugar, proline and amino acid content relative to wild type (WT) plants. Transgenic plants exhibited reductions in electrolyte leakage, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and MDA content in response to salt stress, which probably occurred because of reduced cytosolic Na+ content and oxidative damage. At higher salt stress, transgenic tobacco plants exhibited reduced Na+ content in root and leaf and higher concentrations in stem and xylem sap relative to WT, which suggests a role of SbSOS1 in Na+ loading to xylem from root and leaf tissues. Transgenic lines also showed increased K+ and Ca2+ content in root tissue compared to WT, which reflect that SbSOS1 indirectly affects the other transporters activity. Conclusions Overexpression of SbSOS1 in tobacco conferred a high degree of salt tolerance, enhanced plant growth and altered physiological and biochemical parameters in response to salt stress. In addition to Na+ efflux outside the plasma membrane, SbSOS1 also helps to maintain variable Na+ content in different organs and also affect the other transporters activity indirectly. These results broaden the role of SbSOS1 in planta and suggest that this gene could be used to develop salt-tolerant transgenic crops.

Abiotic stresses cause dramatic changes in agricultural productivity. Plants encounter a wide range of biotic stresses and have evolved mechanisms to increase tolerance through both physical adaptations and interactive molecular and cellular changes that begin after the onset of stress. Transcription factors regulate the gene expression associated with both abiotic and biotic stresses, growth, metabolism, and plant development. SbMYB44 is an R2R3 type transcription factor involved in stress regulation in an extreme halophyte, Salicornia brachiata. SbMYB44 binds to the cis elements of a stress responsive promoter and confers stress tolerance. In future, SbMYb44 may prove to be a candidate gene for developing stress tolerance in crop plants., Abiotic stresses like drought, salinity and extreme temperature significantly affect crop productivity. Plants respond at molecular, cellular and physiological levels for management of stress tolerance. Functional and regulatory genes play a major role in controlling these abiotic stresses through an intricate network of transcriptional machinery. Transcription factors are potential tools for manipulating stress tolerance since they control a large number of downstream genes. In the present study, we have isolated SbMYB44 from a succulent halophyte, Salicornia brachiata Roxb. SbMYB44 with an open-reading frame of 810 bp encodes a protein of 269 amino acids, with an estimated molecular mass of 30.31 kDa and an isoelectric point of 6.29. The in silico analysis revealed that the SbMYB44 protein contains the conserved R2R3 imperfect repeats, two SANT domains and post-translational modification sites. The SbMYB44 transcript showed up-regulation in response to salinity, desiccation, high temperature, and abscisic acid and salicylic acid treatments. The SbMYB44 recombinant protein showed binding to dehydration-responsive cis-elements (RD22 and MBS-1), suggesting its possible role in stress signalling. Overexpression of SbMYB44 enhanced the growth of yeast cells under both ionic and osmotic stresses.