An Arabidopsis mitochondrial uncoupling protein confers tolerance to drought and salt stress in transgenic tobacco plants

Background

Plants are challenged by a large number of environmental stresses that reduce productivity and even cause death. Both chloroplasts and mitochondria produce reactive oxygen species under normal conditions; however, stress causes an imbalance in these species that leads to deviations from normal cellular conditions and a variety of toxic effects. Mitochondria have uncoupling proteins (UCPs) that uncouple electron transport from ATP synthesis. There is evidence that UCPs play a role in alleviating stress caused by reactive oxygen species overproduction. However, direct evidence that UCPs protect plants from abiotic stress is lacking.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Tolerances to salt and water deficit were analyzed in transgenic tobacco plants that overexpress a UCP (AtUCP1) from Arabidopsis thaliana. Seeds of AtUCP1 transgenic lines germinated faster, and adult plants showed better responses to drought and salt stress than wild-type (WT) plants. These phenotypes correlated with increased water retention and higher gas exchange parameters in transgenic plants that overexpress AtUCP1. WT plants exhibited increased respiration under stress, while transgenic plants were only slightly affected. Furthermore, the transgenic plants showed reduced accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in stressed leaves compared with WT plants.

Conclusions/Significance

Higher levels of AtUCP1 improved tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses, and this protection was correlated with lower oxidative stress. Our data support previous assumptions that UCPs reduce the imbalance of reactive oxygen species. Our data also suggest that UCPs may play a role in stomatal closure, which agrees with other evidence of a direct relationship between these proteins and photosynthesis. Manipulation of the UCP protein expression in mitochondria is a new avenue for crop improvement and may lead to crops with greater tolerance for challenging environmental conditions.     

Enhanced tolerance to drought stress in transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing VTE1 for increased tocopherol production from Arabidopsis thaliana

Tocopherol cyclase (VTE1, encoded by VTE1 gene) catalyzes the penultimate step of tocopherol synthesis. Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing VTE1 from Arabidopsis were exposed to drought conditions during which transgenic lines had decreased lipid peroxidation, electrolyte leakage and H(2)O(2) content, but had increased chlorophyll compared with the wild type. Thus VTE1 can be used to increase vitamin E content of plants and also to enhance tolerance to environmental stresses.     

Over-expression of Arabidopsis thaliana β-carotene hydroxylase (chyB) gene enhances drought tolerance in transgenic tobacco

Carotenoids are essential for photosynthesis and photoprotection in plant life. In order to study the protective role of zeaxanthin under drought stress, we increased the capacity for its accumulation in tobacco by over-expression of Arabidopsis β-carotene hydroxylase chyB gene. This manipulation leads to a 2–4 fold increase of xanthophylls cycle pigments. Under high-light condition, the transformants converted more β-carotene into zeaxanthin compared to the controls. The enhancement of zeaxanthin increased the total antioxidant capacity in lipid phase and made plants more tolerant to drought stress, as shown by less leaf necrosis, reduced lipid peroxidation and enhanced photosynthesis rate. The function of the gene in drought tolerance was explored and discussed. We conclude that genetic manipulation of chyB gene may present a powerful method in the production of drought-tolerant crops.     

Drought tolerance through over-expression of the expansin gene TaEXPB23 in transgenic tobacco

Expansins are proteins that are the key regulators of wall extension during plant growth. To investigate the role of TaEXPB23, a wheat expansin gene, we analyzed TaEXPB23 mRNA expression levels in response to water stress in wheat and examined the drought resistance of transgenic tobaccos over-expressing TaEXPB23. We found that the expression of TaEXPB23 corresponded to wheat coleoptile growth and the response to water stress. The results also indicated that the transgenic tobacco lines lost water more slowly than the wild-type (WT) plants under drought stress; their cells could sustain a more integrated structure under water stress than that of WT. Other physiological and biochemical parameters under water stress, such as electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde (MDA) level, photosynthetic rate, F_v/F_m and ΦPSII, also suggested that the transgenic tobaccos were more drought resistant than WT plants.     

Altered physiology in trehalose-producing transgenic tobacco plants: Enhanced tolerance to drought and salinity stresses

Transgenic tobaccoNicotiana tabacum L. var. SR1) plants that over-express theEscherichia coli trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) gene(otsA) synthesized small amounts of trehalose (<400 μg g^-1 leaf) while non-transformants produced no detectable trehalose. Some transgenic plants expressing a high level ofotsA exhibited stunted growth and morphologically altered leaves. We tested F₂2 homozygous plants devoid of phenotypic changes to determine their physiological responses to dehydration and salinity stresses. All transgenic plants maintained better leaf turgidity under a limited water supply or after treatment with polyethylene glycol (PEG). Furthermore, fresh weight was maintained at higher levels after either treatment. The initial leaf water potential was higher in transgenic plants than non-transformants, but, in both plant types, was decreased to a comparable degree following dehydration. When grown with 250 mM NaCl, transgenic plants exhibited a significant delay in leaf withering and chlorosis, as well as more efficient seed germination. Our results suggest that either trehalose or trehalose-6-phosphate can act as an osmoprotective molecule without maintaining water potential, in contrast to other osmolytes. Furthermore, both appear to protect young embryos under unfavorable water status to ensure subsequent germination.     

Arabidopsis and tobacco plants ectopically expressing the soybean antiquitin-like ALDH7 gene display enhanced tolerance to drought, salinity, and oxidative stress

Despite extensive studies in eukaryotic aldehyde dehydrogenases, functional information about the ALDH7 antiquitin-like proteins is lacking. A soybean antiquitin homologue gene, designated GmTP55, has been isolated which encodes a dehydrogenase motif-containing 55 kDa protein induced by dehydration and salt stress. GmTP55 is closely related to the stress-induced plant antiquitin-like proteins that belong to the ALDH7 family. Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants constitutively expressing GmTP55 have been obtained in order to examine the physiological role of this enzyme under a variety of stress conditions. Ectopic expression of GmTP55 in both Arabidopsis and tobacco conferred tolerance to salinity during germination and to water deficit during plant growth. Under salt stress, the germination efficiency of both transgenic tobacco and Arabidopsis seeds was significantly higher than that of their control counterparts. Likewise, under progressive drought, the transgenic tobacco lines apparently kept the shoot turgidity to a normal level, which contrasted with the leaf wilt phenotype of control plants. The transgenic plants also exhibited an enhanced tolerance to H(2)O(2)- and paraquat-induced oxidative stress. Both GmTP55-expressing Arabidopsis and tobacco seeds germinated efficiently in medium supplemented with H(2)O(2), whereas the germination of control seeds was drastically impaired. Similarly, transgenic tobacco leaf discs treated with paraquat displayed a significant reduction in the necrotic lesions as compared with control leaves. These transgenic lines also exhibited a lower concentration of lipid peroxidation-derived reactive aldehydes under oxidative stress. These results suggest that antiquitin may be involved in adaptive responses mediated by a physiologically relevant detoxification pathway in plants.     

Over-expression of OSRIP18 increases drought and salt tolerance in transgenic rice plants

Both drought and high salinity stresses are major abiotic factors that limit the yield of agricultural crops. Transgenic techniques have been regarded as effective ways to improve crops in their tolerance to these abiotic stresses. Functional characterization of genes is the prerequisite to identify candidates for such improvement. Here, we have investigated the biological functions of an Oryza sativa Ribosome-inactivating protein gene 18 (OSRIP18) by ectopically expressing this gene under the control of CaMV 35S promoter in the rice genome. We have generated 11 independent transgenic rice plants and all of them showed significantly increased tolerance to drought and high salinity stresses. Global gene expression changes by Microarray analysis showed that more than 100 probe sets were detected with up-regulated expression abundance while signals from only three probe sets were down-regulated after over-expression of OSRIP18. Most of them were not regulated by drought or high salinity stresses. Our data suggested that the increased tolerance to these abiotic stresses in transgenic plants might be due to up-regulation of some stress-dependent/independent genes and OSRIP18 may be potentially useful in further improving plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses by over-expression.     

豌豆过氧化氢酶在烟草叶绿体中的过量表达提高了植物的抗逆性

通过构建融合番茄RuBP羧化酶小亚基转运肽基因(rbcS-3)和CAT基因编码阅读框(ORF)的双元表达载体,采用农杆菌介导的叶圆盘转化法将融合基因转入烟草,使其能够定向导入叶绿体中发挥作用。在含有50mg/L潮霉素的培养基上筛选获得转CAT烟草30多个株系,并对其进行了分子生物学的验证和生理指标的检测。对获得的抗性植株用PCR、RT-PCR、植株总蛋白Western blot和叶绿体蛋白Western blot分析表明,目的基因已经整合到烟草基因组中,并能正常表达,且在叶绿体rbcS-3转运肽的作用下能定向进入叶绿体中。对转基因植株生理指标的检测发现,在20% PEG₆₀₀₀模拟干旱条件下,野生型烟草的相对电导率提高幅度为43.4%,而转CAT植株的相对电导率仅提高8.8%,表明在干旱胁迫下转CAT烟草的质膜透性小于野生型烟草;经20% PEG₆₀₀₀处理后,野生型和转CAT基因烟草的叶绿素含量都下降,下降幅度分别为68.0%和20.4%;另外,经20% PEG₆₀₀₀处理的野生型烟草叶片的Fv/Fm下降幅度为5.3%,而转CAT基因烟草叶片的Fv/Fm下降幅度0.9%,这些结果表明,在叶绿体中过量表达CAT对干旱胁迫下的细胞质膜、叶绿素和PSⅡ具有一定的保护作用。此外,经150 μmol/L百草枯处理后发现,处理3h后,野生型烟草和转CAT烟草的相对电导率分别比对照提高67.9%和13.5%,而野生型和转CAT烟草的Fv/Fm都下降,降幅分别为23.7%和3.9%,这表明在百草枯氧化胁迫下转CAT烟草的质膜和PSⅡ的损伤程度都小于野生型烟草。总之,豌豆CAT基因在烟草叶绿体中过量表达,提高了转基因烟草的抗旱性和抗氧化性。