Exogenous GABA enhances muskmelon tolerance to salinity-alkalinity stress by regulating redox balance and chlorophyll biosynthesis

BACKGROUND: Salinity-alkalinity stress is one of the major abiotic stresses affecting plant growth and development. γ-Aminobutyrate (GABA) is a non-protein amino acid that functions in stress tolerance. However, the interactions between cellular redox signaling and chlorophyll (Chl) metabolism involved in GABA-induced salinity-alkalinity stress tolerance in plants remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated the role of GABA in perceiving and regulating chlorophyll biosynthesis and oxidative stress induced by salinity-alkalinity stress in muskmelon leaves. We also evaluated the effects of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), glutathione (GSH), and ascorbate (AsA) on GABA-induced salinity-alkalinity stress tolerance. RESULTS: Salinity-alkalinity stress increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, relative electrical conductivity (REC), and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR). Salinity-alkalinity stress decreased shoot dry and fresh weight and leaf area, reduced glutathione and ascorbate (GSH and AsA) contents, activities of glutathione reductase (GR) and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDAR). By contrast, pretreatment with GABA, H(2)O(2), GSH, or AsA significantly inhibited these salinity-alkalinity stress-induced effects. The ability of GABA to relieve salinity-alkalinity stress was significantly reduced when the production of endogenous H(2)O(2) was inhibited, but was not affected by inhibiting endogenous AsA and GSH production. Exogenous GABA induced respiratory burst oxidase homologue D (RBOHD) genes expression and H(2)O(2) accumulation under normal conditions but reduced the H(2)O(2) content under salinity-alkalinity stress. Salinity-alkalinity stress increased the accumulation of the chlorophyll synthesis precursors glutamate (Glu), δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), porphobilinogen (PBG), uroporphyrinogen III (URO III), Mg-protoporphyrin IX (Mg-proto IX), protoporphyrin IX (Proto IX), protochlorophyll (Pchl), thereby increasing the Chl content. Under salinity-alkalinity stress, exogenous GABA increased ALA content, but reduced the contents of Glu, PBG, URO III, Mg-proto IX, Proto IX, Pchl, and Chl. However, salinity-alkalinity stress or GABA treated plant genes expression involved in Chl synthesis had no consistent trends with Chl precursor contents. CONCLUSIONS: Exogenous GABA elevated H(2)O(2) may act as a signal molecule, while AsA and GSH function as antioxidants, in GABA-induced salinity-alkalinity tolerance. These factors maintain membrane integrity which was essential for the ordered chlorophyll biosynthesis. Pretreatment with exogenous GABA mitigated salinity-alkalinity stress caused excessive accumulation of Chl and its precursors, to avoid photooxidation injury. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-019-1660-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.