title: Isolation of a low-sulfur tolerance gene from Eichhornia crassipes using a functional gene-mining approach.
abstract: Genes enhancing nutrient utilization efficiency are needed for crop improvement. Here, we report the isolation of a gene conferring low-sulfur tolerance from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) using a functional gene-mining method. In doing this, an entry cDNA library was constructed from the roots of nutrient-starved water hyacinth using recombination cloning and subsequently shuttled into the plant transformation- and expression-ready vector. The plant transformation- and expression-ready library was transferred into Arabidopsis and a seed library of 50,000 independent transgenic lines was generated. Three transgenic lines with enhanced low-sulfur tolerance were isolated from the seed library. One of the transgenic lines, shl143-1, with improved tolerance to sulfate deficiency and an improved root system was further analyzed. It was found that a water hyacinth jacalin-related lectin gene (EcJRL-1) was overexpressed in shl143-1. Recapitulation analysis confirmed that the overexpression of the EcJRL-1 cDNA caused the phenotype. Therefore, this study demonstrates that a jacalin-related lectin is involved in root elongation under sulfur-deficient conditions.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, 230027, Hefei, Anhui, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: Cheng-Bin
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D031806:Eichhornia / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D015723:Gene Library; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D013455:Sulfur / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010940:Plant Proteins; D013455:Sulfur