Impact of Fire Recurrence and Water Stress on the Root Nucleolar Activity of Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) Individuals Whose Seeds Were Harvested in Post-Fire Naturally Regenerated Stands
2024
Ana Carvalho | Inês Margarida Lopes | Stéphanie Ribeiro | Teresa Fonseca | José Lima-Brito
The main role of the nucleolus is ribosomal biogenesis, but it also responds to stress with changes in number, area, and/or morphology. Nucleoli with transcriptionally active ribosomal RNA genes are selectively stained by silver nitrate. Hypothesising that fire recurrence and/or polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced water stress would cause nucleolar changes in Pinus pinaster roots, nucleolar parameters were analysed upon the germination of seeds harvested in post-fire naturally regenerated stands with different fire regimes. An unburned stand was used as a control. The nucleoli number varied from 1 to 15 among stands and PEG treatments, but a mode of five or six nucleoli was found. The number of nucleoli per interphase (N) increased (p <: 0.001) with fire recurrence (stand effect). Increasing PEG concentration (treatment effect) decreased the nucleoli number, notably in the stand with the highest fire recurrence. The nucleolar area decreased (p <: 0.001) with increased nucleoli number, fire recurrence, and/or PEG concentration. Fire recurrence and water scarcity are forecasted for future climate scenarios. As demonstrated earlier, these factors could influence protein synthesis or the cell cycle&rsquo:s regularity, which are crucial processes for root growth and pine seedling establishment. Furthermore, this work revealed that nucleolar parameters could be suitable biomarkers for pine stress studies.
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