Improved Cold and Drought Tolerance of Doubled Haploid Maize Plants Selected for Resistance to Prooxidant tert-Butyl Hydroperoxide

To improve the abiotic stress tolerance of maize (Zea mays L.), doubled haploid (DH) plants were produced by in vitro selection of microspores exposed to tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BuOOH) as a powerful prooxidant This study investigated the tolerance of the progenies of t-BuOOH-selected DH lines to oxidative stress, cold and drought in controlled environment pot experiments by analyses of photosynthetic electron transport and CO2 assimilation processes, chlorophyll bleaching and lipid peroxidation of leaves. Our results demonstrated that the t-BuOOH-selected DH plants exhibited enhanced tolerance not only to oxidative stress-induced by t-BuOOH but also to cold and drought stresses. In addition, they showed elevated activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, glutathione reductase and glutathione S-transferase when compared with the DH lines derived from microspores that were not exposed to t-BuOOH and to the original hybrid plants. The results suggest that the simultaneous up-regulation of several antioxidant enzymes may contribute to the oxidative and cold stress tolerance of the t-BuOOH-selected DH lines, and that the in vitro microspore selection represents a potential way to improve abiotic stress tolerance in maize.