Hydrogen sulphide alleviates root growth inhibition induced by phosphate starvation

Abstract Phosphorus (P) has crucial roles in plant growth and development. Hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S) has multiple functions in plants, particularly having the ability to promote tolerance to a variety of adversity stresses. However, it is unclear whether H 2 S has a function when plants suffer Pi‐deficiency stress. DES1, encoding L‐cysteine desulfhydrase1, is a crucial source of H 2 S in Arabidopsis thaliana by catalysing the substrate L‐cysteine. Under phosphate starvation, the des1 mutant had a significantly shorter primary root length than the wild‐type Col‐0, and exogenous application of H 2 S donor NaHS could compensate for the root growth‐sensitive phenotype. In contrast, the transgenic lines DES1ox overexpressing DES1 exhibited less sensitivity to phosphate starvation in terms of longer roots compared to the Col‐0. These results demonstrate that H 2 S is involved in the regulation of Arabidopsis root growth under phosphate starvation. Moreover, using quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction experiments to analyse the changes in genes induced by phosphate starvation in des1 mutant and Col‐0, we screened to find that the expression of the Sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol 1 ( SQD1 ) gene was significantly downregulated in the des1 mutant. Consistently, exogenous H 2 S significantly promoted SQD1 expression levels in roots of Col‐0. Taken together, we demonstrate that DES1‐mediated H 2 S participates in alleviating root growth inhibition by promoting the expression of SQD1 under Pi starvation.