title: Significant improvement of stress tolerance in tobacco plants by overexpressing a stress-responsive aldehyde dehydrogenase gene from maize (Zea mays).
abstract: Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) play a central role in detoxification processes of aldehydes generated in plants when exposed to the stressed conditions. In order to identify genes required for the stresses responses in the grass crop Zea mays, an ALDH (ZmALDH22A1) gene was isolated and characterized. ZmALDH22A1 belongs to the family ALDH22 that is currently known only in plants. The ZmALDH22A1 encodes a protein of 593 amino acids that shares high identity with the orthologs from Saccharum officinarum (95%), Oryza sativa (89%), Triticum aestivum (87%) and Arabidopsis thaliana (77%), respectively. Real-time PCR analysis indicates that ZmALDH22A1 is expressed differentially in different tissues. Various elevated levels of ZmALDH22A1 expression have been detected when the seedling roots exposed to abiotic stresses including dehydration, high salinity and abscisic acid (ABA). Tomato stable transformation of construct expressing the ZmALDH22A1 signal peptide fused with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) driven by the CaMV35S-promoter reveals that the fusion protein is targeted to plastid. Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing ZmALDH22A1 shows elevated stresses tolerance. Stresses tolerance in transgenic plants is accompanied by a reduction of malondialdehyde (MDA) derived from cellular lipid peroxidation.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Southwest Bio-resource and Ecoenvironment, College of Life Science and State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
authors.forename: Weizao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xinrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Qilin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Xiangli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Guirong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yongsheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D060365:Chloroplast Proteins; D019327:Copper Sulfate / Q000494:pharmacology; D055864:Droughts; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000187:drug effects; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D017343:Genes, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000187:drug effects; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D060365:Chloroplast Proteins; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; C078737:chloroplast transit peptides; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D000040:Abscisic Acid; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; D019327:Copper Sulfate