Regulation Effects of Na+/H+ Antiporter (NHX1) on Nicotiana tabacum Stressed with Metals of Different Valences

Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter (NHX1) was reported to be induced by NaCl and conferred salt tolerance to transgenic plants overexpressing NHX1 gene. Cadmium (Cd) resistance and Cd accumulation in tobacco were also closely correlated with the expression of NHX1 gene. However, it was still unclear the regulation effects of NHX1 gene on plants under other metal stresses with different valence states. The present study focuses on the resistance of NHX1-overexpressing tobacco plants to Li (I), Pb (II), Cr (III), or Cr (VI) stress and elucidates the potential mechanisms involved in this process. SseNHX1 gene obtained by shuffling using SsNHX1 from Suaeda salsa and SeNHX1 from Salicornia europaea as sequence templates in our previous work, conferred higher NaCl and Cd tolerance to tobacco than SsNHX1 and SeNHX1. The overexpression of SseNHX1 gene in tobacco was used to explore the relationship between metal stresses that differed in valence states and NHX1 gene expression in plants. Our results showed that the content of metal ions in vacuole and the translocation factor from root to leaf were gradually reduced in NHX1-overexpressing tobacco under different metal stresses with the metal valence states increased from monovalent to hexavalent. Comparing with non-transgenic tobacco plants, NHX1 transgenic plants showed higher photosynthesis and transpiration rates when exposed to Li (I), Pb (II), or Cr (III) stress. Decreased ROS and MDA content and increased antioxidant enzyme activities were also found in transgenic tobacco roots than in non-transgenic roots under Li (I), Pb (II), or Cr (III) exposure.