title: Evaluation of abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic potato plants with reduced expression of PSII manganese stabilizing protein.
abstract: Manganese stabilizing protein (MSP) is an important component of the Photosystem II (PSII) oxygen evolving complex. In our previous work, transgenic potato plants with reduced expression of MSP (MSP-As) were developed and their physiological and biochemical responses were studied. In this report, we address the response of MSP-As plants toward salinity, heavy metal and osmotic stresses. MSP-As plants treated with NaCl, ZnCl(2) or mannitol solution showed significant level of tolerance under all the stress conditions. Specific enzyme activities of major ROS-scavenging enzymes were found significantly higher in MSP-As plants than the control plants. MSP-As plants accumulated increased levels of proline and low molecular weight metabolites such as ascorbate and α-tocopherol, which indicated that these plants were much more resistant to stress compared to the corresponding control plants. The primary photochemical efficiencies and the OJIP kinetics analyses further confirmed that MSP-As plants were in better optimal health under stress compared to the control plants. Although the exact reason behind the increased stress tolerance in stressed MSP-As plants is unclear, our results strongly indicate the role of MSP of unknown function in abiotic stress tolerance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biotechnology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mayank Anand
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gururani
authors.forename: Chandrama Prakash
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Upadhyaya
authors.forename: Reto J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Strasser
authors.forename: Jae Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Se Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D002712:Chlorides / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D008353:Mannitol / Q000378:metabolism; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism; D009997:Osmotic Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000378:metabolism*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D054712:Salinity; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000378:metabolism; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002712:Chlorides; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D017967:Zinc Compounds; C054266:photosystem II manganese-stabilizing protein; D008353:Mannitol; D012965:Sodium Chloride; C016837:zinc chloride