Overexpression of HVA1 gene from barley generates tolerance to salinity and water stress in transgenic mulberry (Morus indica)

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are members of a large group of hydrophilic proteins found primarily in plants. The barley hva1 gene encodes a group 3 LEA protein and is induced by ABA and water deficit conditions. We report here the over expression of hva1 in mulberry under a constitutive promoter via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Molecular analysis of the transgenic plants revealed the stable integration and expression of the transgene in the transformants. Transgenic plants were subjected to simulated salinity and drought stress conditions to study the role of hva1 in conferring tolerance. The transgenic plants showed better cellular membrane stability (CMS), photosynthetic yield, less photo-oxidative damage and better water use efficiency as compared to the non-transgenic plants under both salinity and drought stress. Under salinity stress, transgenic plants show many fold increase in proline concentration than the non-transgenic plants and under water deficit conditions proline is accumulated only in the non-transgenic plants. Results also indicate that the production of HVA1 proteins helps in better performance of transgenic mulberry by protecting membrane stability of plasma membrane as well as chloroplastic membranes from injury under abiotic stress. Interestingly, it was observed that hva1 conferred different degrees of tolerance to the transgenic plants towards various stress conditions. Amongst the lines analysed for stress tolerance transgenic line ST8 was relatively more salt tolerant, ST30, ST31 more drought tolerant, and lines ST11 and ST6 responded well under both salinity and drought stress conditions as compared to the non-transgenic plants. Thus hva1 appears to confer a broad spectrum of tolerance under abiotic stress in mulberry.     

Enhanced tolerance to ozone and drought stresses in transgenic tobacco overexpressing dehydroascorbate reductase in cytosol

Ascorbate (vitamin C) is a potent antioxidant protecting plants against oxidative damage imposed by environmental stresses such as ozone and drought. Dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR; EC 1.8.5.1) is one of the two important enzymes functioning in the regeneration of ascorbate (AsA). To examine the protective role of DHAR against oxidative stress, we developed transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing cytosolic DHAR gene from Arabidopsis thaliana . Incorporation of the transgene in the genome of tobacco plants was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analysis, and its expression was confirmed by Northern and Western blot analyses. These transgenic plants exhibited 2.3–3.1 folds higher DHAR activity and 1.9–2.1 folds higher level of reduced AsA compared with non-transformed control plants. The transgenic plants showed maintained redox status of AsA and exhibited an enhanced tolerance to ozone, drought, salt, and polyethylene glycol stresses in terms of higher net photosynthesis. In this study, we report for the first time that the elevation of AsA level by targeting DHAR overexpression in cytosol properly provides a significantly enhanced oxidative stress tolerance imposed by drought and salt.     

RNA-Seq Analysis Reveals MAPKKK Family Members Related to Drought Tolerance in Maize

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is an evolutionarily conserved signal transduction pathway that is involved in plant development and stress responses. As the first component of this phosphorelay cascade, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinases (MAPKKKs) act as adaptors linking upstream signaling steps to the core MAPK cascade to promote the appropriate cellular responses; however, the functions of MAPKKKs in maize are unclear. Here, we identified 71 MAPKKK genes, of which 14 were novel, based on a computational analysis of the maize (Zea mays L.) genome. Using an RNA-seq analysis in the leaf, stem and root of maize under well-watered and drought-stress conditions, we identified 5,866 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 8 MAPKKK genes responsive to drought stress. Many of the DEGs were enriched in processes such as drought stress, abiotic stimulus, oxidation-reduction, and metabolic processes. The other way round, DEGs involved in processes such as oxidation, photosynthesis, and starch, proline, ethylene, and salicylic acid metabolism were clearly co-expressed with the MAPKKK genes. Furthermore, a quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis was performed to assess the relative expression levels of MAPKKKs. Correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant correlation between expression levels of two MAPKKKs and relative biomass responsive to drought in 8 inbred lines. Our results indicate that MAPKKKs may have important regulatory functions in drought tolerance in maize.     

Expression of Arabidopsis DREB1C improves survival, growth, and yield of upland New Rice for Africa (NERICA) under drought

Dehydration-responsive-element-binding protein 1 genes have important roles in response to stress. To improve the drought tolerance of an upland rice cultivar NERICA1, we introduced Arabidopsis AtDREB1C or rice OsDREB1B driven by a stress-inducible rice lip9 promoter. Plants of some transgenic lines survived better than non-transgenic plants under severe drought. AtDREB1C transgenic plants had higher dry weights than non-transgenic plants when grown under moderate drought until the late vegetative growth stage. On the other hand, OsDREB1B transgenic plants had lower dry weights than non-transgenic plants under the same condition. Similar results were obtained under osmotic stress. The AtDREB1C transgenic plants headed earlier, had a larger sink capacity, and had more filled grains than non-transgenic plants. These results suggest that AtDREB1C expressed in NERICA1 improves not only survival under severe drought, but also growth and yield under moderate drought.     

Genetic Transformation of Tobacco with the Trehalose Synthase Gene from Grifola frondosa Fr. Enhances the Resistance to Drought and Salt in Tobacco

Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide of glucose that functions as a protectant in the stabilization of biological structures and enhances the tolerance of organisms to abiotic stress. In the present study, we report on the expression of the Grifolafrondosa Fr. trehalose synthase (TSase) gene for manipulating abiotic stress tolerance in tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum L.). The expression of the transgene was under the control of two tandem copies of the CaMV35S promoter and was transferred into tobacco by Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105. Compared with non-transgenic plants, transgenic plants were able to accumulate high levels of products of trehalose, which were increased up to 2.126-2.556 mg/g FW, although levels were undetectable in non-transgenic plants. This level of trehalose in transgenic plants was 400-fold higher than that of transgenic tobacco plants cotransformed with Escherichia coli TPS and TPP on independent expression cassettes, twofold higher than that of transgenic rice plants transformed with a bifunctional fusion gene (TPSP) of the trehalose-6-phosphate (T-6-P) synthase (TPS) and T-6-P phosphatase (TPP) of E. coli, and 12-fold higher than that of transgenic tobacco plants transformed the yeast TPS1 gene.It has been reported that transgenic plants with E. coli TPS and/or TPP were severely stunted and had morphological alterations of their roots. Interestingly, our transgenic plants have obvious morphological changes, including thick and deep-coloured leaves, but show no growth inhibition; moreover, these morphological changes can restore to normal type in T2 progenies. Trehalose accumulation in 35S-35S:TSase plants resulted in increased tolerance to drought and salt, as shown by the results of tests on drought, salt tolerance, and drought physiological indices, such as water content in excised leaves, malondialdehyde content, chlorophyll a and b contents, and the activity of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase in excised leaves. These results suggest that transgenic plants transformed with the TSase gene can accumulate high levels of trehalose and have enhanced tolerance to drought and salt.     

羽衣甘蓝胁迫应答基因BoRS1转化烟草的初步研究

将克隆于羽衣甘蓝的胁迫应答基因BoRS1连入中间载体p35S-2300：：gus：：noster相应位点,成功地构建了含BoRS1基因的植物双元表达载体p35S-2300：：BoRS1：：noster,并通过农杆菌介导法对烟草进行了遗传转化。PCR检测结果表明目的基因BoRS1已成功地导入并整合到烟草基因组中。RT-PCR分析显示,在不同的转基因烟草植株中BoRS1表达量存在差异。转BoRS1烟草的耐干性和甘露醇胁迫研究表明,BoRS1基因的表达对提高植物抗干旱胁迫能力有一定的作用。     

转反义OsRACK1 基因增强水稻抗旱能力

RACK1是一种多功能支架蛋白, 广泛参与植物生长发育过程的调节。利用反义RNA技术抑制水稻(Oryz a sativa)RACK1基因的表达, 分析了RACK1基因在响应干旱胁迫中的功能。采用实时定量PCR对获得的转基因植株的RACK1基因表达进行分析, 结果表明转基因水稻RACK1基因表达受抑制程度达到50%左右。与非转基因水稻(对照)相比, 转基因水稻耐干旱能力强, 膜脂过氧化程度低且丙二醛的含量少, SOD活性高。这些结果表明, RACK1蛋白负调节水稻对干旱胁迫的耐受过程, 并且这种调节作用在很大程度上与植株体内的氧化还原系统有关。     

Co-expression of genes ApGSMT2 and ApDMT2 for glycinebetaine synthesis in maize enhances the drought tolerance of plants

Glycinebetaine plays an important role in the protection mechanism of many plants under various stress conditions. In this study, genetically engineered maize plants with an enhanced ability to synthesise glycinebetaine (GB) were produced by introducing two genes, glycine sarcosine methyltransferase gene (ApGSMT2) and dimethylglycine methyltransferase gene (ApDMT2), from the bacterium Aphanothece halophytica. Southern blotting and RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the two genes were integrated into the maize genome and expressed. The increased expression levels of ApGSMT2 and ApDMT2 under drought conditions facilitated GB accumulation in the leaves of transgenic maize plants and conferred improved drought tolerance. Under drought conditions, the transgenic plants showed an increased accumulation of sugars and free amino acids, greater chlorophyll content, a higher photosynthesis rate and biomass, and lower malondialdehyde and electrolyte leakage compared to the wild-type; these results suggest that GB provides vital protection against drought stress. Under normal conditions, the transgenic plants did not show decreased biomass and productivity, which indicated that the co-expression of ApGSMT2 and ApDMT2 in maize plays an important role in its tolerance to drought stress and does not lead to detrimental effects. It was concluded that the co-expression of ApGSMT2 and ApDMT2 in maize is an effective approach to enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in maize breeding programmes.     

转反义OsRACK1基因增强水稻抗旱能力

RAC1是一种多功能支架蛋白,广泛参与植物生长发育过程的调节。利用反义RNA技术抑制水稻（Oryzasativa）RACK1基因的表达,分析了RACK1基因在响应干旱胁迫中的功能。采用实时定量PCR对获得的转基因植株的RACK1基因表达进行分析,结果表明转基因水稻RACK1基因表达受抑制程度达到50％左右。与非转基因水稻（对照）相比,转基因水稻耐干旱能力强,膜脂过氧化程度低且丙二醛的含量少,SOD活性高。这些结果表明,RACK1蛋白负调节水稻对干旱胁迫的耐受过程,并且这种调节作用在很大程度上与植株体内的氧化还原系统有关。     

Enhanced expression of phospholipase C 1 (ZmPLC1) improves drought tolerance in transgenic maize

Phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) plays an important role in a variety of physiological processes in plants, including drought tolerance. It has been reported that the ZmPLC1 gene cloned from maize (Zea mays L.) encoded a PI-PLC and up-regulated the expression in maize roots under dehydration conditions (Zhai SM, Sui ZH, Yang AF, Zhang JR in Biotechnol Lett 27:799–804, 2005). In this paper, transgenic maize expressing ZmPLC1 transgenes in sense or antisense orientation were generated by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and confirmed by Southern blot analysis. High-level expression of the transgene was confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and PI-PLC activity assay. The tolerance to drought stress (DS) of the homogenous transgenic maize plants was investigated at two developmental stages. The results demonstrated that, under DS conditions, the sense transgenic plants had higher relative water content, better osmotic adjustment, increased photosynthesis rates, lower percentage of ion leakage and less lipid membrane peroxidation, higher grain yield than the WT; whereas those expressing the antisense transgene exhibited inferior characters compared with the WT. It was concluded that enhanced expression of sense ZmPLC1 improved the drought tolerance of maize.     

Engineering of enhanced glycine betaine synthesis improves drought tolerance in maize

Glycine betaine plays an important role in some plants, including maize, in conditions of abiotic stress, but different maize varieties vary in their capacity to accumulate glycine betaine. An elite maize inbred line DH4866 was transformed with the betA gene from Escherichia coli encoding choline dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.99.1), a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of glycine betaine from choline. The transgenic maize plants accumulated higher levels of glycine betaine and were more tolerant to drought stress than wild-type plants (non-transgenic) at germination and the young seedling stage. Most importantly, the grain yield of transgenic plants was significantly higher than that of wild-type plants after drought treatment. The enhanced glycine betaine accumulation in transgenic maize provides greater protection of the integrity of the cell membrane and greater activity of enzymes compared with wild-type plants in conditions of drought stress.     

RING finger protein RGLG1 and RGLG2 negatively modulate MAPKKK18 mediated drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

Mitogen activated protein kinase kinase kinase 18 (MAPKKK18) mediated signaling cascade plays important roles in Arabidopsis drought stress tolerance. However, the post‐translational modulation patterns of MAPKKK18 are not characterized. In this study, we found that the protein level of MAPKKK18 was tightly controlled by the 26S proteasome. Ubiquitin ligases RGLG1 and RGLG2 ubiquitinated MAPKKK18 at lysine residue K32 and K154, and promoted its degradation. Deletion of RGLG1 and RGLG2 stabilized MAPKKK18 and further enhanced the drought stress tolerance of MAPKKK18‐overexpression plants. Our data demonstrate that RGLG1 and RGLG2 negatively regulate MAPKKK18‐mediated drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.     

Increased glycine betaine synthesis and salinity tolerance in AhCMO transgenic cotton lines

Glycine betaine is an osmoprotectant that plays an important role and accumulates rapidly in many plants during salinity or drought stress. Choline monooxygenase (CMO) is a major catalyst in the synthesis of glycine betaine. In our previous study, a CMO gene (AhCMO) cloned from Atriplex hortensis was introduced into cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) via Agrobacterium mediation to enhance resistance to salinity stress. However, there is little or no knowledge of the salinity tolerance of the transgenic plants, particularly under saline-field conditions. In the present study, two transgenic AhCMO cotton lines of the T₃ generation were used to study the AhCMO gene expression, and to determine their salinity tolerance in both greenhouse and field under salinity stress. Molecular analysis confirmed that the transgenic plants expressed the AhCMO gene. Greenhouse study showed that on average, seedlings of the transgenic lines accumulated 26 and 131% more glycine betaine than those of non-transgenic plants (SM3) under normal and salt-stress (150 mmol l⁻¹ NaCl) conditions, respectively. The osmotic potential, electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation were significantly lower in leaves of the transgenic lines than in those of SM3 after salt stress. The net photosynthesis rate and Fv/Fm in transgenic cotton leaves were less affected by salinity than in non-transgenic cotton leaves. Therefore, transgenic cotton over-expressing AhCMO was more tolerant to salt stress due to elevated accumulation of glycine betaine, which provided greater protection of the cell membrane and photosynthetic capacity than in non-transgenic cotton. The seed cotton yield of the transgenic plants was lower under normal conditions, but was significantly higher than that of non-transgenic plants under salt-stressed field conditions. The results indicate that over-expression of AhCMO in cotton enhanced salt stress tolerance, which is of great value in cotton production in the saline fields.     

The Involvement of Wheat F-Box Protein Gene TaFBA1 in the Oxidative Stress Tolerance of Plants

As one of the largest gene families, F-box domain proteins have been found to play important roles in abiotic stress responses via the ubiquitin pathway. TaFBA1 encodes a homologous F-box protein contained in E3 ubiquitin ligases. In our previous study, we found that the overexpression of TaFBA1 enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic plants. To investigate the mechanisms involved, in this study, we investigated the tolerance of the transgenic plants to oxidative stress. Methyl viologen was used to induce oxidative stress conditions. Real-time PCR and western blot analysis revealed that TaFBA1 expression was up-regulated by oxidative stress treatments. Under oxidative stress conditions, the transgenic tobacco plants showed a higher germination rate, higher root length and less growth inhibition than wild type (WT). The enhanced oxidative stress tolerance of the transgenic plants was also indicated by lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, malondialdehyde (MDA) content and cell membrane damage under oxidative stress compared with WT. Higher activities of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and peroxidase (POD), were observed in the transgenic plants than those in WT, which may be related to the upregulated expression of some antioxidant genes via the overexpression of TaFBA1. In others, some stress responsive elements were found in the promoter region of TaFBA1, and TaFBA1 was located in the nucleus, cytoplasm and plasma membrane. These results suggest that TaFBA1 plays an important role in the oxidative stress tolerance of plants. This is important for understanding the functions of F-box proteins in plants’ tolerance to multiple stress conditions.     

Increase of glycinebetaine synthesis improves drought tolerance in cotton

The tolerance to drought stress of the homozygous transgenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plants with enhanced glycinebetaine (GB) accumulation was investigated at three development stages. Among the five transgenic lines investigated, lines 1, 3, 4, and 5 accumulated significantly higher levels of GB than the wild-type (WT) plants either before or after drought stress, and the transgenic plants were more tolerant to drought stress than the wild-type counterparts from young seedlings to flowering plants. Under drought stress conditions, transgenic lines 1, 3, 4, and 5 had higher relative water content, increased photosynthesis, better osmotic adjustment (OA), a lower percentage of ion leakage, and less lipid membrane peroxidation than WT plants. The GB levels in transgenic plants were positively correlated with drought tolerance under water stress. The results suggested that GB may not only protect the integrity of the cell membrane from drought stress damage, but also be involved in OA in transgenic cotton plants. Most importantly, the seedcotton yield of transgenic line 4 was significantly greater than that of WT plants after drought stress, which is of great value in cotton production.