Data for: Exogenous melatonin alleviates oxidative damages and altering carbon and nitrogen metabolism in soybean under drought stress

Long-term drought stress has irreversible effects on soybean growth and reduces yield. Melatonin can alleviate the growth inhibition and plant damage resulting from drought stress. In this study, we investigated the effects of foliar melatonin application on the carbon and nitrogen metabolism of flowering stage soybeans during drought stress. Exogenous melatonin increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes during drought stress and decreased the production of reactive oxygen species and membrane lipid peroxidation. Melatonin also mitigated lower photosynthesis ability during drought stress, and regulated carbon and nitrogen assimilation and the endogenous hormone content. A total of 518 metabolites were detected using the UPLC-MS/MS metabolome detection platform. Drought stress reduced the accumulation of sugars, amino acids, and nucleotides, and increased the content of flavonoid. Melatonin increased amino acids and their derivatives (L-Asparagine Anhydrous, L-(-)-Tyrosine, L-phenylalanine, DL-Homocysteine, L-Methionine, 3,4-Dihydroxy, and DL-phenylalanine), flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), 6'-cis-cinnamoyl 8-epikingisidic acid, 5-aminocycloheptane-1,2,3-triol and 5,8,11,14-pentadecanoamide. Moreover, melatonin alleviated growth and yield declines caused by drought stress. Our study showed that exogenous melatonin improved the soybean antioxidant system and photosynthesis capacity, altering carbon and nitrogen metabolism, promoted the accumulation of amino acids and their derivatives, reducing plant growth inhibition and yield loss during drought stress. Therefore, the foliar application of melatonin has important potential in agriculture.

长期干旱胁迫对大豆的生长产生不可逆的影响，并降低其产量。褪黑素能够缓解由干旱胁迫引起的生长抑制和植物损伤。在本研究中，我们探讨了在干旱胁迫期间，叶面施用褪黑素对开花期大豆碳氮代谢的影响。外源褪黑素在干旱胁迫期间增强了抗氧化酶的活性，并减少了活性氧的产生和细胞膜脂质过氧化。褪黑素还减轻了干旱胁迫期间的较低光合作用能力，并调节了碳氮同化以及内源激素含量。利用UPLC-MS/MS代谢组学检测平台共检测到518种代谢物。干旱胁迫降低了糖、氨基酸和核苷酸的积累，并增加了黄酮类物质含量。褪黑素增加了氨基酸及其衍生物（如无水L-天冬酰胺、L-（-）酪氨酸、L-苯丙氨酸、DL-同型半胱氨酸、L-蛋氨酸、3,4-二羟基和DL-苯丙氨酸）、黄素腺嘌呤二核苷酸（FAD）、6-顺式肉桂酰基8-表金桔酸、5-氨基环己烷-1,2,3-三醇和5,8,11,14-十五碳酰胺的含量。此外，褪黑素减轻了由干旱胁迫引起的生长和产量下降。我们的研究显示，外源褪黑素增强了大豆的抗氧化系统和光合作用能力，改变了碳氮代谢，促进了氨基酸及其衍生物的积累，减少了干旱胁迫期间的植物生长抑制和产量损失。因此，褪黑素的叶面施用具有在农业领域的重要潜在应用价值。