Increased tolerance of rice to cold, drought and oxidative stresses mediated by the overexpression of a gene that encodes the zinc finger protein ZFP245.
ZFP245 is a cold- and drought-responsive gene that encodes a zinc finger protein in rice. The ZFP245 protein localizes in the nucleus and exhibits trans-activation activity. Transgenic rice plants overexpressing ZFP245 were generated and found to display high tolerance to cold and drought stresses. The transgenic plants did not exhibit growth retardation, but showed growth sensitivity against exogenous abscisic acid, increased free proline levels and elevated expression of rice pyrroline-5-carboxylatesynthetase and proline transporter genes under stress conditions. Overproduction of ZFP245 enhanced the activities of reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzymes under stress conditions and increased the tolerance of rice seedlings to oxidative stress. Our data suggest that ZFP245 may contribute to the tolerance of rice plants to cold and drought stresses by regulating proline levels and reactive oxygen species-scavenging activities, and therefore may be useful for developing transgenic crops with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress.
Huang
Ji
J
State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Sun
Shu-Jing
SJ
Xu
Dong-Qing
DQ
Yang
Xia
X
Bao
Yong-Mei
YM
Wang
Zhou-Fei
ZF
Tang
Hai-Juan
HJ
Zhang
Hongsheng
H
D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D009953:Ornithine-Oxo-Acid Transaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000235:genetics; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D011392:Proline / Q000378:metabolism; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics*
D010940:Plant Proteins; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D000040:Abscisic Acid; D011392:Proline; D009953:Ornithine-Oxo-Acid Transaminase