Dna Methylation Change and Antioxidant Enzyme Activity of Drought Stress and Putrescine Treatment in Ancient Wheat (Triticum Monococcum L.)

Abstract

Drought stress reduces crop productivity and harms cereals on morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. Yet, exogenous application of certain active compounds like putrescine may mitigate these drought-related consequences. In this study, five distinct drought treatments (0, - 2, - 4, - 6, and - 8 bar) and four distinct priming treatments with putrescine (0, 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mM) were used. According to the findings of the enzyme activity, the activities of enzymes like superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) all reduced when the plants were subjected to drought stress; however, it was determined that the putrescine treatment at - 2 bar PEG6000 resulted in an increase in the activity of CAT. iPBS (inter-primer binding site) markers were employed to detect cytosine methylation in treated wheat plants (Triticum monococcum L). The results confirmed that DNA methylation alterations were triggered by drought stress. The study revealed a positive correlation between drought intensity and cytosine methylation levels, while it was found that the application of putrescine resulted in a decrease in methylation levels and conferred a protective effect against drought-induced stress. Moreover, results of in silico docking that showed putrescine can bind to DNA methyltransferase2, that is, the decrease in DNA methylation may be related to this. Drought-stressed wheat is less methylated after being treated with putrescine, according to in silico docking and CRED-iPBS data. Testing the protective effects of polyamines on plants is an area that needs further attention.