Hydrogen sulfide is involved in the chilling stress response in Vitis vinifera L.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important signaling molecule involved in several stress-resistance processes in plants, such as drought and heavy metal stresses. However, little is known about the roles of H2S in responses to chilling stress. In this paper, we demonstrated that chilling stress enhance the H2S levels, the H2S synthetase (L-/D-cysteine desulfhydrase, L/DCD) activities, and the expression of L/DCD gene in Vitis vinifera L. ‘F-242’. Furthermore, the seedlings were treated with sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS, a H2S donor) and hypotaurine (HT, a H2S scavenger) at 4°C to examine the effects of exogenous H2S on grape. The results revealed that the high activity of superoxide dismutase and enhanced expression of VvICE1 and VvCBF3 genes, but low level of superoxide anion radical, malondialdehyde content and cell membrane permeability were detected after addition of NaHS. In contrast, HT treatment displayed contrary effect under the chilling temperature. Taken together, these data suggested that H2S might be directly involved in the cold signal transduction pathway of grape.