title: The overexpression of a maize mitogen-activated protein kinase gene (ZmMPK5) confers salt stress tolerance and induces defence responses in tobacco.
abstract: As sessile organisms, plants are exposed to potential dangers, including multiple biotic and abiotic stresses. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is a universal signalling pathways involved in these processes. A previous study showed that maize ZmMPK5 is induced by various stimuli at transcriptional and post-translational levels. In this study, ZmMPK5 was overexpressed in tobacco to further analyse its biological functions. Under salt and oxidative stresses, ZmMPK5-overexpressing lines displayed less severe damage and stronger growth phenotypes corresponding to a series of physiological changes. In addition, the transgenic lines accumulated less reactive oxygen species (ROS) and had higher levels of antioxidant enzyme activity and metabolites than wild-type (WT) plants following NaCl treatment. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that the expression of ROS-related and stress-responsive genes was higher in transgenic plants than in WT plants. Furthermore, transgenic lines exhibited enhanced resistance to viral pathogens, and expressed constitutively higher transcript levels of pathogenesis-related genes, such as PR1a, PR4, PR5 and EREBP. Taken together, these results demonstrated that ZmMPK5 is involved in salt stress, oxidative stress and pathogen defence signalling pathways, and its function may be at least partly devoted to efficiently eliminating ROS accumulation under salt stress.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, China.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Zhang
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Jiang
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Pan
authors: X
authors: X
authors: Kong
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Zhou
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D018525:Germination / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D017863:Potexvirus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D055049:Salt Tolerance / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D036226:Seedlings / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D003313:Zea mays / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; C402117:ZmMPK5
keywords: Oxidative stress; ROS; ZmMPK5; pathogen defence; salt stress