Overexpression of the tonoplast aquaporin AtTIP5;1 conferred tolerance to boron toxicity in Arabidopsis.
Boron (B) toxicity to plants is responsible for low crop productivity in many regions of the world. Here we report a novel and effective means to alleviate the B toxicity to plants under high B circumstance. Functional characterization of AtTIP5;1, an aquaporin gene, revealed that overexpression of AtTIP5;1 (OxAtTIP5;1) in Arabidopsis significantly increased its tolerance to high B toxicity. Compared to wild-type plants, OxAtTIP5;1 plants exhibited longer hypocotyls, accelerated development, increased silique production under high B treatments. GUS staining and quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) results demonstrated that the expression of AtTIP5;1 was induced by high B concentration treatment. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that the AtTIP5;1-GFP fusion protein was localized on the tonoplast membrane, which was consistent with the prediction based on bioinformatics. Taken together, our results suggest that AtTIP5;1 is involved in B transport pathway possibly via vacuolar compartmentation for B, and that overexpression of AtTIP5;1 in plants may provide an effective way to overcome the problem resulting from high B concentration toxicity.
Pang
Yongqi
Y
State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Li
Lijuan
L
Ren
Fei
F
Lu
Pingli
P
Wei
Pengcheng
P
Cai
Jinghui
J
Xin
Lingguo
L
Zhang
Juan
J
Chen
Jia
J
Wang
Xuechen
X
D020346:Aquaporins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001895:Boron / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D021381:Protein Transport; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
D020346:Aquaporins; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C535169:TIP5;1 protein, Arabidopsis; D001895:Boron