重金属胁迫下内生菌对宿主植物的解毒机制

采用内生菌联合植物修复是土壤重金属污染修复理论研究和应用实践的新思路。较之根际促生菌,内生菌因生存环境稳定且与植物联系更加紧密,在实际应用中具有更大价值。在重金属胁迫下,部分具有特定功能的细菌可进入植物体内成为内生菌,这些内生菌通常在重金属吸收、耐受和解毒方面具有优良的特性,而且可以协同宿主植物耐受重金属胁迫,表现在直接或间接降低植物体内重金属胁迫强度和提高植物本身对重金属的耐受性两方面。系统分析了内生菌对宿主植物的解毒机制,综述了近年来内生菌增强植物重金属耐受性的研究,展望了重金属胁迫下植物和内生菌互作机制的研究思路和方向。     

Overexpression of KcNHX1 gene confers tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis thaliana

Journal of Plant Research - Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and heat affect plant growth and development. Karelinia caspica is a unique perennial herb that grows in desert area for a...     

Overexpression of SaRBP1 enhances tolerance of Arabidopsis to salt stress

Abiotic stresses are the major concern in recent years as their effect on world food production is constantly increasing. We have obtained salt tolerant Arabidopsis lines overexpressing SaRBP1 (Suaeda asparagoides RNA binding protein 1) of a Korean halophyte, S. asparagoides. Homozygous T3 Arabidopsis transgenic lines were developed and used for salt stress tolerance studies. The transgenic seedlings displayed tolerance to salt and mannitol compared to the wild type (WT) seedlings. Transgenic lines produced longer primary roots, more fresh weight, and higher number of lateral roots than WT. In planta stress tolerance assay results showed that the survival rates of transgenic plants were significantly higher than WT plants. Transgenic lines showed delayed germination under 200 mM NaCl stress. In addition, the transgenics showed higher water retention ability than WT. Subcellular localization results revealed that SaRBP1 was targeted to the cytoplasm. Northwestern blot analysis results confirmed the RNA binding property of SaRBP1. Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction results revealed that many stress marker genes were upregulated by SaRBP1 overexpression. Thus, our data demonstrate that SaRBP1 overexpression lines are tolerant to salt stress. Hence, this is the first report for the functional characterization of SaRBP1, a novel RBP gene isolated from S. asparagoides cDNA library.     

The level of jasmonic acid in Arabidopsis thaliana and Phaseolus coccineus plants under heavy metal stress

The effect of heavy metal stress as a potent abiotic elicitor for triggering an accumulation of jasmonic acid (JA) was investigated. Copper and cadmium in in vivo conditions induced accumulation of jasmonates in mature leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana and in young and oldest Phaseolus coccineus plants. The dynamics of jasmonate accumulation showed a biphasic character in both plants. In the first phase, after 7 (A. thaliana) or 14 h (P. coccineus) of exposure to Cu or Cd, a rapid increase of JA level occurred, followed by a rapid decrease observed during 7 successive hours. In the next phase, a repeated but slow increase of JA content occurred. The heavy metal stress induced in particular a more stable (3R,7R) form of jasmonates. These results indicate that JA is connected with the mechanism of toxic action of both heavy metals in plants, differentially reacting to exogenous JA and possessing variable dynamics depending on the plants studied as well as their growth stage.     

Bacterial heavy metal transporter MerC increases mercury accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana

This study evaluated the feasibility of transgenic Arabidopsis engineered to express the bacterial heavy metal transporter MerC for the phytoremediation of mercury pollution. MerC, MerC–SYP121, or MerC–AtVAM3 proteins were found to be expressed in leaf segments of transgenic plants using an anti-MerC antibody immunostaining method. By sucrose density gradient centrifugation and immunoblotting analyses, MerC, MerC–SYP121, and MerC–AtVAM3 were found to localized in the Golgi apparatus, plasma membrane, and vacuole membrane, respectively. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants that expressed merC–SYP121 were more resistant to mercury and accumulated significantly more of this metal than wild-type Arabidopsis. These results demonstrated that expression of the bacterial heavy metal transporter MerC promoted the transport and accumulation of mercury in transgenic Arabidopsis, which may be a useful method for improving plants for the phytoremediation of mercury pollution.     

Overexpression of heat shock protein gene PfHSP21.4 in Arabidopsis thaliana enhances heat tolerance

Nuclear-encoded chloroplast small heat shock proteins (Cp-sHSPs) play important roles in plant stress tolerance due to their abundance and diversity. Their functions in Primula under heat treatment are poorly characterized. Here, expression analysis showed that the Primula Cp-sHSP gene, PfHSP21.4, was highly induced by heat stress in all vegetative and generative tissues in addition to constitutive expression in certain development stages. PfHSP21.4 was introduced into Arabidopsis, and its function was analysed in transgenic plants. Under heat stress, the PfHSP21.4 transgenic plants showed increased heat tolerance as shown by preservation of hypocotyl elongation, membrane integrity, chlorophyll content and photosystem II activity (Fv/Fm), increased seedling survival and increase in proline content. Alleviation of oxidative damage was associated with increased activity of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase. In addition, the induced expression of HSP101, HSP70, ascorbate peroxidase and Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase under heat stress was more pronounced in transgenic plants than in wild-type plants. These results support the positive role of PfHSP21.4 in response to heat stress in plants.     

Auxin and its transport play a role in plant tolerance to arsenite‐induced oxidative stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

The role of auxin in plant development is well known; however, its possible function in root response to abiotic stress is poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrate a novel role of auxin transport in plant tolerance to oxidative stress caused by arsenite. Plant response to arsenite [As(III)] was evaluated by measuring root growth and markers for stress on seedlings treated with control or As(III)‐containing medium. Auxin transporter mutants aux1, pin1 and pin2 were significantly more sensitive to As(III) than the wild type (WT). Auxin transport inhibitors significantly reduced plant tolerance to As(III) in the WT, while exogenous supply of indole‐3‐acetic acid improved As(III) tolerance of aux1 and not that of WT. Uptake assays using H³‐IAA showed As(III) affected auxin transport in WT roots. As(III) increased the levels of H₂O₂ in WT but not in aux1, suggesting a positive role for auxin transport through AUX1 on plant tolerance to As(III) stress via reactive oxygen species (ROS)‐mediated signalling. Compared to the WT, the mutant aux1 was significantly more sensitive to high‐temperature stress and salinity, also suggesting auxin transport influences a common element shared by plant tolerance to arsenite, salinity and high‐temperature stress.