Enhanced tolerance to heat stress in transgenic plants expressing the GASA4 gene.
We conducted a genetic yeast screen to identify Thermo-tolerance genes (TTOs) in maize kernel cDNA library. During the screening, we identified a maize clone (TTO6) that seemed to confer elevated heat tolerance in comparison to control cells. TTO6 cDNA (GenBank accession no. AY103785) encodes an 11-kDa protein which is 69% similarity to the Arabidopsis GASA4 gene. To further examine heat tolerance in Arabidopsis, we functionally characterized the GASA4 gene and found that heat induced GASA4 expression. Constitutive expression of GASA4 in Arabidopsis led to elevated heat tolerance in transgenic lines. Interestingly, endoplasmic reticulum chaperone expression analysis suggests that GASA4 influences BiP gene expression during heat stress.
Ko
Chang-Beom
CB
Department of Plant Biotechnology and Agricultural Plant Stress Research Center, Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-dong, Buk-gu, Kwangju 500-757, South Korea.
Woo
Young-Min
YM
Lee
Dong Ju
DJ
Lee
Myung-Chul
MC
Kim
Cheol Soo
CS
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D018744:DNA, Plant; C036483:T-DNA; C077221:BIP protein, Arabidopsis; C093242:GASA protein, Arabidopsis