Glutathione-induced drought stress tolerance in mung bean: coordinated roles of the antioxidant defence and methylglyoxal detoxification systems

Drought is considered one of the most acute environmental stresses presently affecting agriculture. We studied the role of exogenous glutathione (GSH) in conferring drought stress tolerance in mung bean (Vigna radiata L. cv. Binamoog-1) seedlings by examining the antioxidant defence and methylglyoxal (MG) detoxification systems and physiological features. Six-day-old seedlings were exposed to drought stress (-0.7 MPa), induced by polyethylene glycol alone and in combination with GSH (1 mM) for 24 and 48 h. Drought stress decreased seedling dry weight and leaf area; resulted in oxidative stress as evidenced by histochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and [Formula: see text] in the leaves; increased lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde), reactive oxygen species like H2O2 content and [Formula: see text] generation rate and lipoxygenase activity; and increased the MG level. Drought decreased leaf succulence, leaf chlorophyll and relative water content (RWC); increased proline (Pro); decreased ascorbate (AsA); increased endogenous GSH and glutathione disulfide (GSSG) content; decreased the GSH/GSSG ratio; increased ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase activities; and decreased the activities of monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and catalase. The activities of glyoxalase I (Gly I) and glyoxalase II (Gly II) increased due to drought stress. In contrast to drought stress alone, exogenous GSH enhanced most of the components of the antioxidant and glyoxalase systems in drought-affected mung bean seedlings at 24 h, but GSH did not significantly affect AsA, Pro, RWC, leaf succulence and the activities of Gly I and DHAR after 48 h of stress. Thus, exogenous GSH supplementation with drought significantly enhanced the antioxidant components and successively reduced oxidative damage, and GSH up-regulated the glyoxalase system and reduced MG toxicity, which played a significant role in improving the physiological features and drought tolerance.