title: Polyamine accumulation in transgenic tomato enhances the tolerance to high temperature stress.
abstract: Polyamines play an important role in plant response to abiotic stress. S-adenosyl-l-methionine decarboxylase (SAMDC) is one of the key regulatory enzymes in the biosynthesis of polyamines. In order to better understand the effect of regulation of polyamine biosynthesis on the tolerance of high-temperature stress in tomato, SAMDC cDNA isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was introduced into tomato genome by means of Agrobacterium tumefaciens through leaf disc transformation. Transgene and expression was confirmed by Southern and Northern blot analyses, respectively. Transgenic plants expressing yeast SAMDC produced 1.7- to 2.4-fold higher levels of spermidine and spermine than wild-type plants under high temperature stress, and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity and the protection of membrane lipid peroxidation was also observed. This subsequently improved the efficiency of CO(2) assimilation and protected the plants from high temperature stress, which indicated that the transgenic tomato presented an enhanced tolerance to high temperature stress (38 degrees C) compared with wild-type plants. Our results demonstrated clearly that increasing polyamine biosynthesis in plants may be a means of creating high temperature-tolerant germplasm.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Growth, Development and Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Yijing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Shuli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Jiajing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jiashu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D012437:Adenosylmethionine Decarboxylase / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D016960:Agrobacterium tumefaciens / Q000235:genetics; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D006358:Hot Temperature; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*; D011073:Polyamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011073:Polyamines; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D012437:Adenosylmethionine Decarboxylase