ABA Inducible Rice Protein Phosphatase 2C Confers ABA Insensitivity and Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Arabidopsis PP2C belonging to group A have been extensively worked out and known to negatively regulate ABA signaling. However, rice (Oryza sativa) orthologs of Arabidopsis group A PP2C are scarcely characterized functionally. We have identified a group A PP2C from rice (OsPP108), which is highly inducible under ABA, salt and drought stresses and localized predominantly in the nucleus. Genetic analysis revealed that Arabidopsis plants overexpressing OsPP108 are highly insensitive to ABA and tolerant to high salt and mannitol stresses during seed germination, root growth and overall seedling growth. At adult stage, OsPP108 overexpression leads to high tolerance to salt, mannitol and drought stresses with far better physiological parameters such as water loss, fresh weight, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic potential (Fv/Fm) in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Expression profile of various stress marker genes in OsPP108 overexpressing plants revealed interplay of ABA dependent and independent pathway for abiotic stress tolerance. Overall, this study has identified a potential rice group A PP2C, which regulates ABA signaling negatively and abiotic stress signaling positively. Transgenic rice plants overexpressing this gene might provide an answer to the problem of low crop yield and productivity during adverse environmental conditions.     

葡萄NAC转录因子家族生物信息学分析

NAC基因家族是植物所特有的一类重要转录因子,广泛参与植物生长、发育以及器官建成、逆境胁迫应答等反应.目前,基因组信息的挖掘和分析已经成为葡萄功能基因组学研究的重要组成部分.本文利用生物信息学方法对葡萄143条NAC蛋白序列的系统发生和NAC基因组定位进行分析,然后对其氨基酸组成成分、理化性质以及二级和三级结构进行预测和分析,同时还分析了葡萄与拟南芥的NAC基因家族之间的联系.结果显示这143条蛋白序列与拟南芥94个NAC基因蛋白序列一起分成了16个亚族,说明拟南芥与葡萄NAC基因间具有较高的保守性.基因组定位结果发现143条NAC基因分布在17条染色体上.研究还发现不同亚家族间氨基酸数目、氨基酸序列间的疏水性存在一定的差异;而它们的二级结构都主要以随机卷曲为组成部分,且143条氨基酸序列三维结构十分相似.本文试验结果将为葡萄NAC基因家族的进一步功能分析提供重要研究基础.     

茶树中2个NAC转录因子基因的克隆及温度胁迫的响应

利用茶树转录组数据库,检索得到2个NAC家族转录因子基因CsNAC1和CsNAC2。通过RT-PCR方法,将其从茶树‘迎霜’中分离克隆,利用荧光定量PCR方法,对CsNAC1和CsNAC2基因在‘迎霜’和‘安吉白茶’2个茶树品种不同组织以及温度胁迫处理下的表达进行分析,以探讨NAC家族转录因子在温度胁迫下的响应特征。结果表明:(1)CsNAC1和CsNAC2基因开放阅读框长度分别为1 044和1 047bp,分别编码347个和348个氨基酸;蛋白功能域预测和多重对比显示,CsNAC1和CsNAC2蛋白N端均含有典型NAC家族成员所具有的NAM保守结构域。(2)进化分析表明,CsNAC1和CsNAC2分别属于NAC家族的NAP和AtNAC3亚家族。(3)三维分子模型建模显示,CsNAC1和CsNAC2蛋白分别含有3个和2个α-螺旋,6个和7个β-折叠。(4)荧光定量PCR结果显示,CsNAC1在2个茶树品种中具有较相似的组织特异性,均在茶树成熟叶中表达量最高;CsNAC2则分别在‘安吉白茶’的幼叶中,‘迎霜’的根中表达量最高;高温(38℃)和低温(4℃)处理下,CsNAC1和CsNAC2基因的表达均受不同温度胁迫影响,不同茶树品种、不同时间段的表达存在差异。     

AtEXP2 Is Involved in Seed Germination and Abiotic Stress Response in Arabidopsis

Expansins are cell wall proteins that promote cell wall loosening by inducing pH-dependent cell wall extension and stress relaxation. Expansins are required in a series of physiological developmental processes in higher plants such as seed germination. Here we identified an Arabidopsis expansin gene AtEXPA2 that is exclusively expressed in germinating seeds and the mutant shows delayed germination, suggesting that AtEXP2 is involved in controlling seed germination. Exogenous GA application increased the expression level of AtEXP2 during seed germination, while ABA application had no effect on AtEXP2 expression. Furthermore, the analysis of DELLA mutants show that RGL1, RGL2, RGA, GAI are all involved in repressing AtEXP2 expression, and RGL1 plays the most dominant role in controlling AtEXP2 expression. In stress response, exp2 mutant shows higher sensitivity than wild type in seed germination, while overexpression lines of AtEXP2 are less sensitive to salt stress and osmotic stress, exhibiting enhanced tolerance to stress treatment. Collectively, our results suggest that AtEXP2 is involved in the GA-mediated seed germination and confers salt stress and osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.     

非生物胁迫相关NAC转录因子的结构及功能

NAC是植物特有的一类转录因子,参与植物多个生长发育过程,还参与植物对逆境胁迫的响应。本文对非生物胁迫相关NAC转录因子的结构特征、功能预测、表达特性、在转基因植物中的作用及调控路径进行综述。非生物胁迫相关NAC转录因子具有典型的NAc胁迫亚家族结构特征,根据这些结构特征可以预测其功能;非生物胁迫相关NAc转录因子能响应多种非生物胁迫,其转基因过表达大多能使转基因植物提高一种或几种胁迫耐受性;非生物胁迫相关NAc转录因子有着复杂的调控路径。这些NAc转录因子可用于提高转基因植物的逆境耐受性。