Assessment of salinity-induced antioxidative defense system of diazotrophic cyanobacterium nostoc muscorum

摘要

The present study examined the salinity-induced oxidative damage and differential response of enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants of Nostoc muscorum. As compared with carotenoid content that showed induction, the chlorophyll and phycocyanin contents were inhibited after salt stress. Acceleration of lipid peroxidation and peroxide production suggested the onset of oxidative damage. The activities of all studied enzymatic antioxidants were significantly increased by salt stress, with maximum induction occuring with superoxide dismutase (154.8% at 200 mM NaCl treatment). Interestingly, under severe stress condition (250 mM NaCl), ascorbate peroxidase seemed to be more crucial than catalase for peroxide scavenging. Among the studied nonenzymatic antioxidants, α-tocopherol was induced maximally (56.0%); however, ascorbate and reduced glutathione were increased by only 8.9% after 250 mM NaCl treatment as compared with control cells. Therefore, salinity was found to induce the antioxidative defense system of N. muscorum.