Dataset Information

Overexpression of the aspartic protease ASPG1 gene confers drought avoidance in Arabidopsis.

ABSTRACT: Drought is one of the most severe environmental stresses affecting plant growth and limiting crop production. Although many genes involved in adaptation to drought stress have been disclosed, the relevant molecular mechanisms are far from understood. This study describes an Arabidopsis gene, ASPG1 (ASPARTIC PROTEASE IN GUARD CELL 1), that may function in drought avoidance through abscisic acid (ABA) signalling in guard cells. Overexpression of the ASPG1 gene enhanced ABA sensitivity in guard cells and reduced water loss in ectopically overexpressing ASPG1 (ASPG1-OE) transgenic plants. In ASPG1-OE plants, some downstream targets in ABA and/or drought-signalling pathways were altered at various levels, suggesting the involvement of ASPG1 in ABA-dependent drought avoidance in Arabidopsis. By analysing the activities of several antioxidases including superoxide dismutase and catalase in ASPG1-OE plants, the existence was demonstrated of an effective detoxification system for drought avoidance in these plants. Analysis of ProASPG1-GUS lines showed a predominant guard cell expression pattern in various aerial tissues. Moreover, the protease activity of ASPG1 was characterized in vitro, and two aspartic acid sites, D180 and D379, were found to be key residues for ASPG1 aspartic protease activity in response to ABA. In summary, these findings suggest that functional ASPG1 may be involved in ABA-dependent responsiveness and that overexpression of the ASPG1 gene can confer drought avoidance in Arabidopsis.

SUBMITTER: Yao X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3346222 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Overexpression of the aspartic protease ASPG1 gene confers drought avoidance in Arabidopsis.

Yao Xuan X Xiong Wei W Ye Tiantian T Wu Yan Y

Journal of experimental botany 20120120 7

Drought is one of the most severe environmental stresses affecting plant growth and limiting crop production. Although many genes involved in adaptation to drought stress have been disclosed, the relevant molecular mechanisms are far from understood. This study describes an Arabidopsis gene, ASPG1 (ASPARTIC PROTEASE IN GUARD CELL 1), that may function in drought avoidance through abscisic acid (ABA) signalling in guard cells. Overexpression of the ASPG1 gene enhanced ABA sensitivity in guard cel ...[more]

PMID: 22268147

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Project description:Abscisic acid (ABA) plays versatile functions in regulating plant development and tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Towards elucidating the functions of one of the ABA receptors (ABARs) in rice, OsPYL10 was cloned from drought tolerant rice cv. Nagina 22 and was overexpressed under stress inducible RD29A promoter in a mega rice variety MTU1010 by using Agrobacterium mediated genetic transformation. Four single copy transgenic lines selected based on Southern blot analysis were used for physiological and molecular analysis. PYL10 receptor appears to regulate its ligand ABA accumulation as PYL10 overexpressing transgenics accumulated 2-3.3-fold higher levels of ABA than that of WT in flag leaf at anthesis under non-stress conditions. The enhanced accumulation of ABA was associated with enhanced expression of genes for ABA biosynthesis viz., ZEP1, NCED1, NCED2, NCED3, and NCED4 in transgenics than in WT plants. At seedling stage, PYL10 transgenics showed significantly higher survival rate under cold stress as compared with WT plants. qRT-PCR analysis showed that expression levels of cold responsive genes viz., DREB1F, MYB3R2, TPP1, COR410, DEHYDRIN, and LEA3 were significantly higher in PYL10 overexpressing transgenic lines as compared to WT plants under cold stress. PYL10 transgenic and WT plants grown in the same pot were subjected to -80 kPa drought stress and recovery treatments at vegetative and reproductive stages. At vegetative stage drought stress, three overexpressing lines showed significantly higher grain yield (40-58%) and at reproductive stage drought stress one of these overexpression lines showed two-fold higher grain yield than that of WT plants. Excised leaf water loss analysis showed that PYL10 transgenic lost about 20% less water than WT plants. At reproductive stage, OsPYL10 transgenic maintained higher RWC, membrane stability index, chlorophyll content, and accumulated lower amount of MDA and H2O2 as compared with WT plants. qRT-PCR analysis showed that expression levels of RAB16, Dehydrin, LEA3, and ABA45 were higher in PYL10 transgenics as compared with WT plants under drought stress. Thus, overall results showed that OsPYL10 overexpression has potential to improve both drought and cold stress tolerance of indica rice.

Dataset Information

Overexpression of the aspartic protease ASPG1 gene confers drought avoidance in Arabidopsis.

Publications

Overexpression of the aspartic protease ASPG1 gene confers drought avoidance in Arabidopsis.

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