Overexpressing a putative aquaporin gene from wheat, TaNIP, enhances salt tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis.
High soil salinity is a major abiotic stress in plant agriculture worldwide. Here, we report the characterization of a novel aquaporin gene TaNIP (Triticum asetivum L. nodulin 26-like intrinsic protein), which was involved in salt tolerance pathways in plants. TaNIP was identified and cloned through the gene chip expression analysis of a salt-tolerant wheat mutant RH8706-49 under salt stress. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (Q-RT-PCR) was used to detect TaNIP expression under salt, drought, cold and ABA treatment. The overexpression of TaNIP in transgenic Arabidopsis produced higher salt tolerance than wild-type plants. Localization analysis showed that TaNIP proteins tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP) were localized to the cell plasma membrane. Under salt stress treatment, TaNIP-overexpressing Arabidopsis accumulated higher K(+), Ca(2+) and proline contents and lower Na(+) level than the wild-type plants. The overexpression of TaNIP in transgenic Arabidopsis also up-regulated the expression of a number of stress-associated genes. Our results suggest that TaNIP plays an important role in salt tolerance in Arabidopsis and can also enhance plants' tolerance to other abiotic stresses.
Gao
Zhenxian
Z
College of Life Science of Hebei Normal University, No. 113 Yuhua East Road, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, PR China.
He
Xiaoliang
X
Zhao
Baocun
B
Zhou
Chunjiang
C
Liang
Yingzhu
Y
Ge
Rongchao
R
Shen
Yinzhu
Y
Huang
Zhanjing
Z
D020346:Aquaporins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D055051:Salt-Tolerant Plants / Q000235:genetics; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D020346:Aquaporins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D018749:RNA, Plant