ZmCIPK21, A Maize CBL-Interacting Kinase,Enhances Salt Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana |
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| Authors: | Xunji Chen Quansheng Huang Fan Zhang Bo Wang Jianhua Wang Jun Zheng |
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| Affiliation: | 1.College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing 100094, China; E-Mails: (X.C.); (F.Z.); (B.W.); (J.W.);2.Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China;3.Institute of Nuclear Technology and Biotechnology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 403 Nanchang Road, Urumqi 830091, China; E-Mail: |
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| Abstract: | Salt stress represents an increasing threat to crop growth and yield in saline soil. In this study, we identified a maize calcineurin B-like protein-interacting protein kinase (CIPK), ZmCIPK21, which was primarily localized in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of cells and displayed enhanced expression under salt stress. Over-expression of ZmCIPK21 in wild-type Arabidopsis plants increased their tolerance to salt, as supported by the longer root lengths and improved growth. The downstream stress-response genes, including dehydration-responsive element-binding (DREB) genes were also activated in transgenic plants over-expressing ZmCIPK21. In addition, introduction of the transgenic ZmCIPK21 gene into the Arabidopsis mutant cipk1-2 rescued the salt-sensitive phenotype under high salt stress. Measurement of Na+ and K+ content in transgenic plants showed that over-expression of ZmCIPK21 decreased accumulation of Na+ and allowed retention of relatively high levels of K+, thereby enhancing plant tolerance to salt conditions. |
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| Keywords: | CIPK stress salt tolerance Arabidopsis |
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