Comparative physiological and full-length transcriptome analyses reveal the molecular mechanism of melatonin-mediated salt tolerance in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.)

BACKGROUND: Melatonin, a multifunctional signal molecule, has been reported to play crucial roles in growth and development and stress responses in various plant species. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is a food crop with extremely high values of nutrition and healthcare. Recent reports have revealed the protective role of melatonin in alleviating salt stress. However, little is known about its regulatory mechanisms in response to salt stress in okra. RESULTS: In this study, we explored whether exogenous melatonin pretreatment could alleviate salt stress (300 mM NaCl) of okra plants. Results showed that exogenous application of melatonin (50 μM) significantly enhanced plant tolerance to salt stress, as demonstrated by the plant resistant phenotype, as well as by the higher levels of the net photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll content in comparison with nontreated salt-stressed plants. Additionally, melatonin pretreatment remarkably decreased the levels of lipid peroxidation and H(2)O(2) content and scavenged O(2)(•-) in melatonin-pretreated plants, which may be attributed to the higher levels of enzyme activities including POD and GR. Moreover, a combination of third- (PacBio) and second-generation (Illumina) sequencing technologies was applied to sequence full-length transcriptomes of okra. A total of 121,360 unigenes was obtained, and the size of transcript lengths ranged from 500 to 6000 bp. Illumina RNA-seq analysis showed that: Comparing with control, 1776, 1063 and 1074 differential expression genes (DEGs) were identified from the three treatments (NaCl, MT50 and MT + NaCl, respectively). These genes were enriched in more than 10 GO terms and 34 KEGG pathways. Nitrogen metabolism, sulfur metabolism, and alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism were significantly enriched in all three treatments. Many transcription factors including MYB, WRKY, NAC etc., were also identified as DEGs. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results suggested that melatonin pretreatment enhanced salt tolerance of okra plants for the first time. These data provide the first set of full-length isoforms in okra and more comprehensive insights into the molecular mechanism of melatonin responses to salt stress. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-021-02957-z.