Transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing the type 1 inositol 5-phosphatase exhibit increased drought tolerance and altered abscisic acid signaling.
The phosphoinositide pathway and inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP(3)) are implicated in plant responses to stress. To determine the downstream consequences of altered InsP(3)-mediated signaling, we generated transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing the mammalian type I inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase (InsP 5-ptase), which specifically hydrolyzes soluble inositol phosphates and terminates the signal. Rapid transient Ca(2+) responses to a cold or salt stimulus were reduced by approximately 30% in these transgenic plants. Drought stress studies revealed, surprisingly, that the InsP 5-ptase plants lost less water and exhibited increased drought tolerance. The onset of the drought stress was delayed in the transgenic plants, and abscisic acid (ABA) levels increased less than in the wild-type plants. Stomatal bioassays showed that transgenic guard cells were less responsive to the inhibition of opening by ABA but showed an increased sensitivity to ABA-induced closure. Transcript profiling revealed that the drought-inducible ABA-independent transcription factor DREB2A and a subset of DREB2A-regulated genes were basally upregulated in the InsP 5-ptase plants, suggesting that InsP(3) is a negative regulator of these DREB2A-regulated genes. These results indicate that the drought tolerance of the InsP 5-ptase plants is mediated in part via a DREB2A-dependent pathway and that constitutive dampening of the InsP(3) signal reveals unanticipated interconnections between signaling pathways.
Department of Plant Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA. imara_perera@ncsu.edu
Imara Y
IY
Perera
Chiu-Yueh
CY
Hung
Candace D
CD
Moore
Jill
J
Stevenson-Paulik
Wendy F
WF
Boss
D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D055864:Droughts; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D000072181:Inositol Polyphosphate 5-Phosphatases; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
D014867:Water; D000040:Abscisic Acid; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases; D000072181:Inositol Polyphosphate 5-Phosphatases; D002118:Calcium