The salt- and drought-inducible poplar GRAS protein SCL7 confers salt and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana.
The plant-specific GRAS/SCL transcription factors play diverse roles in plant development and stress responses. In this study, a poplar SCL gene, PeSCL7, was functionally characterized in Arabidopsis thaliana, especially with regard to its role in abiotic stress resistance. Expression analysis in poplar revealed that PeSCL7 was induced by drought and high salt stresses, but was repressed by gibberellic acid (GA) treatment in leaves. Transient expression of GFP-PeSCL7 in onion epidermal cells revealed that the PeSCL7 protein was localized in the nucleus. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing PeSCL7 showed enhanced tolerance to drought and salt treatments. The activity of two stress-responsive enzymes was increased in transgenic seedlings. Taken together, these results suggest that PeSCL7 encodes a member of the stress-responsive GRAS/SCL transcription factors that is potentially useful for engineering drought- and salt-tolerant trees.
Ma
Hong-Shuang
HS
National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35, Tsinghua East Road, Beijing, PR China.
Liang
Dan
D
Shuai
Peng
P
Xia
Xin-Li
XL
Yin
Wei-Lun
WL
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D032107:Populus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D054712:Salinity; D036226:Seedlings / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D010940:Plant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012965:Sodium Chloride