title: A Glycine soja 14-3-3 protein GsGF14o participates in stomatal and root hair development and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: It is well established that 14-3-3 proteins are key regulators of multiple stress signal transduction cascades. However, the biological functions of soybean 14-3-3 proteins, especially in plant drought response, are not yet known. In this study, we characterized a Glycine soja 14-3-3 gene, GsGF14o, which is involved in plant development and drought response. GsGF14o expression was greatly induced by drought stress, as evidenced by the quantitative real-time PCR and β-glucuronidase (GUS) activity analysis. GsGF14o overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in decreased drought tolerance during seed germination and seedling growth. Furthermore, silencing of AtGF14µ, the most homologous 14-3-3 gene of GsGF14o, led to enhanced drought tolerance at both the seed germination and seedling stage. Unexpectedly, GsGF14o transgenic lines showed reduced water loss and transpiration rates compared with wild-type plants, which was demonstrated to be the consequence of the decreased stomatal size. At the same time, the smaller stomata due to GsGF14o overexpression led to a relatively slow net photosynthesis rate, which led to a growth penalty under drought stress. We further demonstrated that GsGF14o overexpression caused deficits in root hair formation and development, and thereby reduced the water intake capacity of the transgenic root system. In addition, GsGF14o overexpression down-regulated the transcript levels of drought-responsive marker genes. Finally, we also investigated the tissue-specific accumulation of GsGF14o by using a GUS activity assay. Collectively, the results presented here confirm that GsGF14o plays a dual role in drought stress responses through its involvement in the regulation of stomatal size and root hair development.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Mingzhe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Xuedong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Qingyue
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Bowei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Yanming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D017343:Genes, Plant; D018525:Germination / Q000187:drug effects; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009997:Osmotic Pressure; D010788:Photosynthesis; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D054046:Plant Stomata / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012639:Seeds / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D030262:Soybean Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D030262:Soybean Proteins
keywords: 14-3-3; Drought stress; Glycine soja; Root hair; Stomatal size