Cultivo in vitro e perfis de isoenzimas antioxidativas em espécies de bromélias

Abstract

Bromeliaceae has essentially neotropical distribution, with 52 genera covering 3,320 species. The bromeliad species, 34% are unique to the Atlantic Forest, Portea petropolitana and Billbergia horrida fall into this category. The accelerated process of destruction of ecosystems, coupled with the predatory extraction has led to drastic reductions in populations. Although its ecological importance, medicinal and ornamental, conducting physiological studies with bromeliads is still rare. Tissue culture is presented as a very attractive alternative for the conservation of endangered species, allowing obenção of high multiplication rates from different explants. To promote in vitro conservation Billbergia horrida, Portea petropolitana and Tillandsia polystachia plants as multiplication on a large scale, this study aimed to establish efficient multiplication protocols using different growth regulators (BAP, KIN, TDZ and GA3 ) seeking to identify the optimal concentrations there of for the cultivation of individual species. The treatment produced the greatest in vitro multiplication rates of P. petropolitana was supplemented with BAP at 7.5 uM. The highest rooting rates were observed in the treatment supplemented with 5 uM of GA3. To B. horrida treatment which produced the greatest of in vitro propagation rates was supplemented with 2.5 uM BAP. Seedlings with larger roots were obtained in response to the supplementation of culture medium with GA3 at 2.5 uM. The treatment promoted the best in vitro propagation rate T. polystachia was supplemented with 2.5 uM BAP. A higher number of roots was obtained in response to GA3 10 uM. Seedlings of the three species were efficiently acclimatized ex vitro. Due to the presence of O2 in the atmosphere, the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is an inevitable process in essential metabolic events such as photosynthesis and respiration. Defense systems that promote the elimination of ROS involving enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms. Although some studies have investigated the existing functional compartmentalization along the leaves of epiphytic bromeliad tank, including some involving enzymes essential to plant metabolism, research relating the enzyme systems and antioxidative isozyme in different regions of the bromeliad leaves do not exist yet. In this study, in plants grown under field conditions, gross enzymatic activities and enzyme profiles of catalase enzymes were evaluated (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in different regions of the leaves (apical, median and basal ) of Portea petropolitana and Billbergia horrida, and in different strata of height of a host tree (lower, middle and higher) in Tillandsia polystachia specific patterns of expression of SOD isoenzymes and POD were observed in different portions of the sheets P. petropolitana. The CAT activity was not detected in any of the portions of the sheets of the three species. The largest number of isoforms of SOD and the greater intensity of isoform of POD, observed in the apical region of P. petropolitana leaves are apparently related to more intense metabolic activity resulting from higher photosynthetic activity and the level of maturity of this portion of the leaf. These results were supported by higher activity of these enzymes also observed in the apical portion of the leaves through spectrophotometric methods. The apical region of the leaf is the primary photosynthetic assimilation site and cell wall biosynthesis and lignin in bromeliads, involving metabolic processes typically related to the generation of ROS. In electrophoresis studies with B. horrida the same pattern of SOD isoforms was observed in all evaluated foliar regions. However, for the POD different intensity patterns in the isozyme expression were detected in different parts of the sheet. The greatest intensity of POD isoforms observed in the apical region of the leaves also seems to be related to increased physiological maturity of the region, a result confirmed by more intense enzymatic activity observed for this enzyme in the spectrophotometric analysis with materials from the apical region of the sheet. During senescence, the pods along with other enzymes, are involved in cell wall biosynthesis and lignin, through mechanisms that envovem the production and accumulation of ROS. In T. polystachia, the same pattern of SOD isoenzymes was observed in different strata of the host tree. In this species, the POD activity was not observed in the electrophoresis analysis, although it has been detected by spectrophotometry, especially in middle positions and higher phorophyte. In the spectrophotometric analysis, the activities of CAT and SODs showed similar patterns of expression, with highest values observed in lower positions and higher phorophyte. These results revealed the occurrence of variation in the enzymatic activity in T. polystachia plants in response to the position (height) in phorophyte. The protein content also followed the same pattern in response to the stratum location of the plants in phorophyte. The results of this study allow us to conclude that, for the three species studied, the BAP was the growth regulator which promoted the highest in vitro multiplication rates, and the GA3 growth regulator which enabled obtaining rooted and ready seedlings for the acclimatization phase. The three species of bromeliads studied were efficiently acclimatized after three months of in vitro culture. The expression profile of the isoenzymes of SOD and POD varied as the regions of the leaves of P. petropolitana. In B. horrida, SOD exhibited the same pattern of isoforms in all foliar regions, although different intensity patterns in the isozyme expression of POD were detected. In T. polystachia, SOD showed the same profile of isozymes in different strata of the host tree. These results are the first reports of the spatial variation of antioxidative enzyme activity and isoenzyme expression in leaves of bromeliads species.