biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 52:161-164, 2008 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-008-0035-2

Water stress induced changes in the leaf lipid composition of four grapevine genotypes with different drought tolerance

I. Toumi^1,*, M. Gargouri¹, I. Nouairi², P. N. Moschou³, A. Ben Salem-Fnayou¹, A. Mliki¹, M. Zarrouk², A. Ghorbel¹

¹ Laboratory of Grapevine Molecular Physiology, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia

² Laboratory of Characterization and Quality of Olive Oil, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia

³ Laboratory of Plant physiology and Biotechnology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

To dissect differences in both lipid accumulation and composition and the role of these modifications during drought stress, four grapevine cultivars exhibiting differential tolerance to drought were subjected to water shortage. Tolerant cultivars, Kahli Kerkennah and Cardinal, exhibited higher leaf water potential (Ψ_w), and lower lipid peroxidation compared to the sensitive cultivars Guelb Sardouk and Superior Seedless during stress. Total lipid amounts increased during stress only in the leaves of the tolerant cultivars. Drought induced increases in the ratios digalactosyldiacylglycerol/monogalactosyldiacylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine/phoshatidylethanolamine of almost all the drought stressed cultivars. Moreover, the overall analysis of the composition of fatty acids revealed that a linolenic acid was prevalent in grapevine and the unsaturation level of lipids increased under water stress in all the cultivars. Specific adjustments in the lipid composition during stress could compromise stress tolerance.

Keywords: glycolipids; leaf water potential; peroxidation; phospholipids; unsaturation; Vitis vinifera

Subjects: cultivar and genotype differences; grapevine; lipid composition; peroxidase; phospholipase; phospholipids; Vitis vinifera; water potential; water stress

Received: January 4, 2007; Accepted: November 17, 2007; Published: March 1, 2008  Show citation