title: Increased salt and drought tolerance by D-ononitol production in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: The methylation of myo-inositol forms O-methyl inositol (D-ononitol) when plants are under abiotic stress in a reaction catalyzed by myo-inositol methyltransferase (IMT). D-Ononitol can serve as an osmoprotectant that prevents water loss in plants. We isolated the IMT cDNA from Glycine max and found by RT-PCR analysis that GmIMT transcripts are induced by drought and salinity stress treatments in the leaves of soybean seedlings. We confirmed the protein product of GmIMT and its substrate using a recombinant system in E. coli. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants over-expressing GmIMT displayed improved tolerance to dehydration stress treatment and to a lesser extent high salinity stress treatment. These results indicate that GmIMT is functional in heterologous Arabidopsis plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, The University of Suwon, Hwasungsi 445-743, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chulhyun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Uhnmee
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Phun Bum
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D055864:Droughts; D006027:Glycosides / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007294:Inositol / Q000378:metabolism; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D054712:Salinity; D055049:Salt Tolerance; D013025:Glycine max / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D006027:Glycosides; C544115:ononitol monohydrate; D007294:Inositol; D008780:Methyltransferases; C095694:inositol O-methyltransferase