Enhanced tolerance of transgenic potato plants overexpressing nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2 against multiple environmental stresses.
In plants, nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2 (NDPK2) is known to regulate the expression of antioxidant genes. In this study, we developed transgenic potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Atlantic) expressing Arabidopsis NDPK2 (AtNDPK2) gene in cytosols under the control of an oxidative stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter (referred to as SN plants) or enhanced CaMV 35S promoter (EN plants) and evaluated their tolerance to various environmental stress, including methyl viologen (MV)-mediated oxidative stress, high temperature, and salt stress. When 250 muM MV was sprayed to whole plants, plants expressing NDPK2 showed significantly an enhanced tolerance compared to non-transgenic (NT) plants. SN plants and EN plants showed 51% and 32% less visible damage than NT plants, respectively. Transcript level of AtNDPK2 gene and NDPK2 activity in SN plants following MV treatment well reflected the plant phenotype. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity was also increased in MV-treated SN plants. In addition, SN plants showed enhanced tolerance to high temperature at 42 degrees C. The photosynthetic activity of SN plants after treatment of high temperature was decreased by about 10% compared to the plants grown at 25 degrees C, whereas that of NT plants declined by 30%. When treated with 80 mM NaCl onto the plantlets, both SN plants and EN plants also showed a significant reduced damage in root growth. These results indicate that overexpression of NDPK2 under the stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter might efficiently regulate the oxidative stress derived from various environmental stresses.
Tang
Li
L
Environmental Biotechnology Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, 52 Eoeun-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea.
Kim
Myoung Duck
MD
Yang
Kyoung-Sil
KS
Kwon
Suk-Yoon
SY
Kim
Sun-Hyung
SH
Kim
Jin-Seog
JS
Yun
Dae-Jin
DJ
Kwak
Sang-Soo
SS
Lee
Haeng-Soon
HS
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology; D060387:Ascorbate Peroxidases; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D009701:Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D010269:Paraquat / Q000494:pharmacology; D010544:Peroxidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013696:Temperature
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018749:RNA, Plant; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D010544:Peroxidases; D060387:Ascorbate Peroxidases; C121988:nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2; D009701:Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase; D010269:Paraquat