Salicylic acid and nitric oxide alleviate high temperature induced oxidative damage in Lablab purpureus L plants by regulating bio-physical processes and DNA methylation

Salicylic acid (SA) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP, NO donor) modulates plant growth and development processes and recent findings have also revealed their involvement in the regulation of epigenetic factors under stress condition. In the present study, some of these factors were comparatively studied in hyacinth bean plants subjected to high temperature (HT) environment (40-42 °C) with and without exogenous application of SA and SNP under field condition. Exogenous application of SA and SNP substantially modulated the growth and biophysical process of hyacinth bean plants under HT environment. Exogenous application of SA and SNP also remarkably regulated the activities of antioxidant enzymes, modulated mRNA level of certain enzymes, improves plant water relation, enhance photosynthesis and thereby increasing plant defence under HT. Coupled restriction enzyme digestion-random amplification (CRED-RA) technique revealed that many methylation changes were "dose dependent" and HT significantly increased DNA damages as evidenced by both increase and decrease in bands profiles, methylation and de-methylation pattern. Thus, the result of the present study clearly shows that exogenous SA and SNP regulates DNA methylation pattern, modulates stress-responsive genes and can impart transient HT tolerance by synchronizing growth and physiological acclimatization of plants, thus narrowing the gaps between physio-biochemical and molecular events in addressing HT tolerance.