Common and divergent physiological, hormonal and metabolic responses of Arabidopsis thaliana and Thellungiella halophila to water and salt stress

To explain the higher tolerance of Thellungiella to abiotic stress in comparison to Arabidopsis, several studies have focused on differences in ion absorption and gene expression. However, little is known about hormone regulation and metabolic responses. In this work, plants of both species were subjected to desiccation and salt stress to compare common and divergent responses. In control conditions, the number of significantly upregulated mass features as well as proline levels was higher in Tellungiella than in Arabidopsis. When subjected to desiccation, both species exhibited similar rates of water loss but proline over accumulation only occurred in Thellungiella; both species accumulated ABA and JA with a similar trend although Arabidopsis showed higher concentrations of both hormones which indicated a stronger impact of desiccation on Arabidopsis. However, Arabidopsis showed a higher number of significantly altered mass features than Thellungiella. Under salt stress, Thellungiella plants accumulated lower amounts of Cl− ions than Arabidopsis but exhibited a similar proline response. Under these conditions, ABA and JA levels increased in Arabidopsis whereas minimal changes in both hormone concentrations were recorded in Thellungiella. Contrastingly, the impact of salt stress on metabolite profiles was higher in Thellungiella than in Arabidopsis. Overall, data indicated that physiological responses in Arabidopsis are induced after stress imposition through hormonal regulation whereas Thellungiella has a basal metabolic configuration, better prepared to endure environmental cues.