Ectopic Expression of Maize Plastidic Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase ZmMSRB1 Enhances Salinity Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant methionine sulfoxide reductases (MSRs) can repair oxidative damage done to intracellular proteins and, therefore, play an active role in the response to abiotic stress. However, the function of MSR homologs in maize has not been reported, to the best of our knowledge. In a previous study, we reported that ZmMSRB1 can be induced by salinity stress. In this study, we revealed that ZmMSRB1 is localized to chloroplasts and belongs to the MSRB sub-family. Characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana msrb1 mutant and lines with ectopic expression of MSRB1 indicated that MSRB1 contributes to tolerance of salinity stress. Overexpression of ZmMSRB1 in Arabidopsis seedlings significantly decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation by leading to the downregulation of ROS-generating genes and upregulation of ROS-scavenging genes, which resulted in a significant increase in ROS-scavenging protein activity. ZmMSRB1 overexpression was also found to enhance the expression of Salt Overly Sensitive genes, which maintain intracellular K⁺/Na⁺ balance. Furthermore, it resulted in the promotion of expression of key genes involved in glucose metabolism, increasing the soluble sugar content in the leaves. The ZmMSRB1 protein was observed to physically interact with glutathione S-transferase ZmGSTF8 in a yeast two-hybrid assay. GST catalyzes the conjugation of glutathione (GSH) to other compounds, counteracting oxidative damage to cells in vivo. When GSH synthesis was disrupted, the ZmMSRB1-induced response to salinity stress was partially impaired. Together, the findings of the present study indicate that maize MSRB1 promotes resistance to salinity stress by regulating Na⁺/K⁺ transport, soluble sugar content, and ROS levels in A. thaliana.

     

Ectopic Expression of Arabidopsis Glycosyltransferase UGT85A5 Enhances Salt Stress Tolerance in Tobacco

Abiotic stresses greatly influence plant growth and productivity. While glycosyltransferases are widely distributed in plant kingdom, their biological roles in response to abiotic stresses are largely unknown. In this study, a novel Arabidopsis glycosyltransferase gene UGT85A5 was identified as significantly induced by salt stress. Ectopic expression of UGT85A5 in tobacco enhanced the salt stress tolerance in the transgenic plants. There were higher seed germination rates, better plant growth and less chlorophyll loss in transgenic lines compared to wild type plants under salt stress. This enhanced tolerance of salt stress was correlated with increased accumulations of proline and soluble sugars, but with decreases in malondialdehyde accumulation and Na⁺/K⁺ ratio in UGT85A5-expressing tobacco. Furthermore, during salt stress, expression of several carbohydrate metabolism-related genes including those for sucrose synthase, sucrose-phosphate synthase, hexose transporter and a group2 LEA protein were obviously upregulated in UGT85A5-expressing transgenic plants compared with wild type controls. Thus, these findings suggest a specific protective role of this glycosyltransferase against salt stress and provide a genetic engineering strategy to improve salt tolerance of crops.     

Chitinase Gene Expression in Response to Environmental Stresses in Arabidopsis thaliana: Chitinase Inhibitor Allosamidin Enhances Stress Tolerance

The expression levels of three chitinase genes in Arabidopsis thaliana, AtChiA (class III), AtChiB (class I), and AtChiV (class IV), were examined under various stress conditions by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Under normal growth conditions, the AtChiB and AtChiV genes were expressed in most organs of Arabidopsis plants at all growth stages, whereas the AtChiA gene was not expressed at all. The class III AtChiA gene was expressed exclusively when the plants were exposed to environmental stresses, especially to salt and wound stresses. Treatment of Arabidopsis plants with allosamidin, which inhibits class III chitinases, did not affect the growth rate. Surprisingly, however, the plants treated with allosamidin were more tolerant of abiotic stresses (cold, freezing, heat, and strong light) than the control plants. It also appeared that allosamidin enhances AtChiA and AtChiB expression under heat and strong light stresses. Allosamidin is likely to enhance abiotic stress tolerance, probably through crosstalk between the two signaling pathways for biotic and abiotic stress responses.     

Ectopic Expression of Riboflavin-binding Protein Gene TsRfBP Paradoxically Enhances Both Plant Growth and Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

Riboflavin is the precursor of the coenzymes flavin monophosphate (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), which serve as indispensable redox cofactors in all plants. Numerous data indicate that riboflavin is involved in pathogen resistance but less data are available on abiotic stress tolerance. In this experiment, the overexpression of the riboflavin-binding protein resulted in an enhancement of vegetative growth and net photosynthetic rate, and an acceleration of floral transition in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana REAT11 (containing less than half the normal levels of free riboflavin, FMN, and FAD) compared to wild-type Col-0 under nonstressed conditions. The effect of drought stress on the antioxidant response of Col-0 and REAT11 was compared, where 20- and 40-day-old grown plants were subjected to 10 % PEG 6000 treatment for 2 days. Stress conditions caused a significant increase in H₂O₂ accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and membrane permeability in Col-0 over that in REAT11. Greater activity levels of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, and glutathione reductase were observed in the leaves of REAT11 compared to those of Col-0. Significant increases in total ascorbate and glutathione content and higher ratios of ASC/DHA: (ASC and DHA are reduced and oxidized ascorbate, respectively) and GSH/GSSG: (GSH and GSSG are reduced and oxidized glutathione, respectively) were observed in the leaves of REAT11 compared to those in Col-0 under drought conditions. In addition, enhancement of free proline and soluble sugar accumulation was observed in REAT11 compared to Col-0 under stress. Our results suggest that a slight deficiency in free riboflavin can paradoxically induce both a higher vegetative growth rate and an enhanced tolerance to drought in transgenic plants. The “stress escape” hypothesis is proposed here to explain this interesting phenomenon.     

野生大豆P5CS基因的克隆及对盐胁迫反应

逆境下植物大量积累脯氨酸是减轻胁迫伤害的一种自我保护机制。本研究应用同源克隆方法从NaCl处理的野生大豆中克隆获得一个脯氨酸合成酶(P5CS)基因,命名为GsP5CS。该基因核苷酸序列全长2.232 kb,含一个2148bp开放阅读框,编码715个氨基酸,包含有高等植物P5CS蛋白质的5个主要功能域,与菜豆PvP5CS1基因核苷酸序列相似性高达98.79%。Real Time PCR分析显示该基因受轻度盐胁迫诱导上调表达,根中表达高峰出现在200 mmol/L NaCl处理下,相对表达量为对照的5.83倍;叶片中表达高峰出现在300 mmol/L NaCl处理条件下,相对表达量为对照的12.78倍。并且该基因在根和叶片中的表达模式和脯氨酸含量的变化模式相同。上述结果说明,GsP5CS可能参与野生大豆脯氨酸合成。     

异源表达CkLEA1基因增强了拟南芥对非生物胁迫的耐受性

植物在生长过程中会受到各种非生物胁迫的伤害,导致生长发育和产量受到严重影响,胚胎晚期丰富蛋白（late embryogenesis abundant proteins,LEA蛋白）在植物抵抗非生物胁迫过程中起着重要的保护作用。在前期的研究基础上,将受多种胁迫诱导的柠条锦鸡儿CkLEA1（GenBank登录号KC309408）基因转入野生型拟南芥,通过实时荧光定量PCR从7株T₃代纯合体中筛选出3个转基因株系做进一步研究。种子萌发率实验发现,在200 mmol/L NaCl和400 mmol/L甘露醇处理下,转基因株系萌发率均高于野生型拟南芥。干旱处理2周大的幼苗后,转基因株系明显比野生型更抗旱,存活率高于野生型,并且失水率低于野生型。同时,转基因株系积累了较少的丙二醛（MDA）,超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）活性和谷胱甘肽（GSH）含量也高于野生型。这些结果表明,柠条锦鸡儿CkLEA1基因在种子萌发阶段提高了拟南芥对盐和渗透胁迫的耐受性,并且提高了转基因拟南芥幼苗生长阶段对干旱胁迫的抵抗能力。     

Heterologous Expression of Wheat VERNALIZATION 2 (TaVRN2) Gene in Arabidopsis Delays Flowering and Enhances Freezing Tolerance

The vernalization gene 2 (VRN2), is a major flowering repressor in temperate cereals that is regulated by low temperature and photoperiod. Here we show that the gene from Triticum aestivum (TaVRN2) is also regulated by salt, heat shock, dehydration, wounding and abscissic acid. Promoter analysis indicates that TaVRN2 regulatory region possesses all the specific responsive elements to these stresses. This suggests pleiotropic effects of TaVRN2 in wheat development and adaptability to the environment. To test if TaVRN2 can act as a flowering repressor in species different from the temperate cereals, the gene was ectopically expressed in the model plant Arabidopsis. Transgenic plants showed no alteration in morphology, but their flowering time was significantly delayed compared to controls plants, indicating that TaVRN2, although having no ortholog in Brassicaceae, can act as a flowering repressor in these species. To identify the possible mechanism by which TaVRN2 gene delays flowering in Arabidopsis, the expression level of several genes involved in flowering time regulation was determined. The analysis indicates that the late flowering of the 35S::TaVRN2 plants was associated with a complex pattern of expression of the major flowering control genes, FCA, FLC, FT, FVE and SOC1. This suggests that heterologous expression of TaVRN2 in Arabidopsis can delay flowering by modulating several floral inductive pathways. Furthermore, transgenic plants showed higher freezing tolerance, likely due to the accumulation of CBF2, CBF3 and the COR genes. Overall, our data suggests that TaVRN2 gene could modulate a common regulator of the two interacting pathways that regulate flowering time and the induction of cold tolerance. The results also demonstrate that TaVRN2 could be used to manipulate flowering time and improve cold tolerance in other species.     

Overexpression of Multiple Dehydrin Genes Enhances Tolerance to Freezing Stress in Arabidopsis

To elucidate the contribution of dehydrins (DHNs) to freezing stress tolerance in Arabidopsis, transgenic plants overexpressing multiple DHN genes were generated. Chimeric double constructs for expression of RAB18 and COR47 (pTP9) or LTI29 and LTI30 (pTP10) were made by fusing the coding sequences of the respective DHN genes to the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Overexpression of the chimeric genes in Arabidopsis resulted in accumulation of the corresponding dehydrins to levels similar or higher than in cold-acclimated wild-type plants. Transgenic plants exhibited lower LT50 values and improved survival when exposed to freezing stress compared to the control plants. Post-embedding immuno electron microscopy of high-pressure frozen, freeze-substituted samples revealed partial intracellular translocation from cytosol to the vicinity of the membranes of the acidic dehydrin LTI29 during cold acclimation in transgenic plants. This study provides evidence that dehydrins contribute to freezing stress tolerance in plants and suggests that this could be partly due to their protective effect on membranes.     

Overexpression of a Soybean Ariadne-Like Ubiquitin Ligase Gene GmARI1 Enhances Aluminum Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Ariadne (ARI) subfamily of RBR (Ring Between Ring fingers) proteins have been found as a group of putative E3 ubiquitin ligases containing RING (Really Interesting New Gene) finger domains in fruitfly, mouse, human and Arabidopsis. Recent studies showed several RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligases play important roles in plant response to abiotic stresses, but the function of ARI in plants is largely unknown. In this study, an ariadne-like E3 ubiquitin ligase gene was isolated from soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., and designated as GmARI1. It encodes a predicted protein of 586 amino acids with a RBR supra-domain. Subcellular localization studies using Arabidopsis protoplast cells indicated GmARI protein was located in nucleus. The expression of GmARI1 in soybean roots was induced as early as 2–4 h after simulated stress treatments such as aluminum, which coincided with the fact of aluminum toxicity firstly and mainly acting on plant roots. In vitro ubiquitination assay showed GmARI1 protein has E3 ligase activity. Overexpression of GmARI1 significantly enhanced the aluminum tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis. These findings suggest that GmARI1 encodes a RBR type E3 ligase, which may play important roles in plant tolerance to aluminum stress.     

The Arabidopsis AtAAE13.1 Gene Enhances Salt Stress Tolerance in Angiosperms and Gymnosperm Plant Cells

In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant - The Arabidopsis malonyl-CoA synthetase gene AAE13.1 (AtAAE13.1) plays important roles in cell metabolism, plant growth and development, and...     

细菌乙酰胆碱氧化酶基因（codA）在烟草的表达与抗盐能力的分析

将土壤细菌（A.globiformis)的乙酰胆碱氧化酶（COD）基因（codA)通过农杆菌介导转入到烟草中,应用抗性筛选得了抗性植株,PCR检测结果表明：codA已整合到抗性植株染色体中;Western印迹鉴定及金标免疫分子定位的结果表明：乙酰胆碱氧化酶基因（codA已整合到抗性植株染色体中;Western印迹鉴定及金标免疫分子定位的结果表明：乙酰胆碱氧化酶基因（codA)在转基因烟草中得到表达,表达产物COD定位在叶绿体中,通过对转基因植株的抗盐能力分析,结果表明转基因植株比对照植株具有更高的抗盐性,其中幼小植株（1.0-1.5cm)可在400mmol/LNaCl的培养基上存活30天以上,并获得具有一定抗盐性状的转基因植株（T4-400）,能在300mmol/LNaCl浓度下较好生长;较大植株（6-8cm）能在400mmol/LNaCl浓度下较好生长。     

过量表达棉花GaSus3基因增强拟南芥的耐盐性

构建了植物过量表达载体p35S：：GaSus3,通过花序浸染法成功获得转GaSus3基因拟南芥植株。利用NaCl模拟盐胁迫处理,证实转基因拟南芥与野生型相比耐盐性明显增强。在盐胁迫下,转基因拟南芥受到的影响较小,而野生型则受盐害影响严重：转基因拟南芥具有更好的萌发率和主根长度,以保证植株正常生长;盐胁迫下转基因拟南芥能保持较多的绿色叶片,而野生型则过早黄化死亡。研究还发现,转基因拟南芥的过氧化氢酶活性在胁迫前后都高于野生型,这说明转GaSus3基因能够提高拟南芥抗氧化胁迫的能力。研究结果为进一步探讨GaSus3基因在棉花耐盐方面的功能奠定了基础。     

Overproduction of the Membrane-bound Receptor-like Protein Kinase 1, RPK1, Enhances Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis

RPK1 (receptor-like protein kinase 1) localizes to the plasma membrane and functions as a regulator of abscisic acid (ABA) signaling in Arabidopsis. In our current study, we investigated the effect of RPK1 disruption and overproduction upon plant responses to drought stress. Transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing the RPK1 protein showed increased ABA sensitivity in their root growth and stomatal closure and also displayed less transpirational water loss. In contrast, a mutant lacking RPK1 function, rpk1-1, was found to be resistant to ABA during these processes and showed increased water loss. RPK1 overproduction in these transgenic plants thus increased their tolerance to drought stress. We performed microarray analysis of RPK1 transgenic plants and observed enhanced expression of several stress-responsive genes, such as Cor15a, Cor15b, and rd29A, in addition to H₂O₂-responsive genes. Consistently, the expression levels of ABA/stress-responsive genes in rpk1-1 had decreased compared with wild type. The results suggest that the overproduction of RPK1 enhances both the ABA and drought stress signaling pathways. Furthermore, the leaves of the rpk1-1 plants exhibit higher sensitivity to oxidative stress upon ABA-pretreatment, whereas transgenic plants overproducing RPK1 manifest increased tolerance to this stress. Our current data suggest therefore that RPK1 overproduction controls reactive oxygen species homeostasis and enhances both water and oxidative stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.     

Expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana Histone Gene AtHTA1 Enhances Rice Transformation Efficiency

We expressed the Arabidopsis thaliana histone AtHTA1 in rice under the control of the maize ubiquitin promoter. Transformation efficiencies of rice plants that constitutively expressed AtHTA 1 were 28-44% higher than calli containing an empty vector control. Furthermore, co-infection of rice calli with a vector containing AtHTA 1 and another vector with the target gene increased transformation by 27-50%. Thus, expression of AtHTA 1 either transiently or in stably transformed cells improved rice transformation efficiency.     

NaCl胁迫下野生和栽培大豆幼苗体内离子的再转运

采用NaCl根际处理和叶面饲喂^22Na方法,研究了野生大豆(Glycine soja)——耐盐的BB52、盐敏感的N23232和栽培大豆(Glycine max)——较耐盐的Lee68幼苗在盐胁迫及解除过程中对Na^ 、Cl^-的吸收和再转运。结果表明,在NaCl根际处理12h过程中,BB52和Lee68幼苗根对Na^ 、Cl^-吸收和向茎、叶的运输逐渐增加,10h时趋于稳定,Na^ 、Cl^-含量高低顺序是根＞茎＞叶。但N23232的Na^ 、Cl^-含量则是茎＞根＞叶。在用NaCl对根处理10h后再解除NaCl处理的0～36h内,BB52吸收的Na^ 、Cl^-较多地留于根部或转运至根茎过渡区,叶中较少。N23232吸收的Na^ 较多地转运至茎部,而Cl^-含量在幼苗各部分无差异。叶片饲喂^22Na 10h后,BB52吸收^22Na较N23232多,并较多地向根部运输。从离子再转运角度讨论了BB52的耐盐性。