title: Overexpression of tomato chloroplast-targeted DnaJ protein enhances tolerance to drought stress and resistance to Pseudomonas solanacearum in transgenic tobacco.
abstract: DnaJ proteins as co-chaperones have critical functions in biotic and abiotic stress responses, but their biological functions remain largely uninvestigated. This study investigates the function of a tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) chloroplast-targeted DnaJ protein (LeCDJ2) using transgenic tobacco. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that LeCDJ2 expression was triggered by salicylic acid (SA), drought and pathogen attack. Ectopic expression of LeCDJ2 in transgenic tobacco reduced the accumulation of superoxide anion radical (O2(-)) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) under drought stress. Compared with Vec plants, the maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) (Fv/Fm), net photosynthetic rate (Pn), and content of D1 protein were relatively higher in transgenic plants. The transgenic plants showes better growth, higher chlorophyll content, lower malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation and relative electrolyte leakage (REL) under drought stress. In addition, overexpression of LeCDJ2 improved the resistance to the pathogen Pseudomonas solanacearum in transgenic tobacco. These results indicate that overexpression of a tomato chloroplast-targeted DnaJ gene enhances tolerance to drought stress and resistance to P. solanacearum in transgenic tobacco.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Guodong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Guohua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Fanying
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Yongsheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China. Electronic address: qwmeng@sdau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qingwei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Meng
mesh_terms: D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D055864:Droughts; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins
keywords: DnaJ proteins; Drought stress; LeCDJ2; Pseudomonas solanacearum; Transgenic tobacco