title: Suppression of PCD-related genes affects salt tolerance in Arabidopsis.
abstract: This work aims at examining a natural exciting phenomenon suggesting that suppression of genes inducing programmed cell death (PCD) might confer tolerance against abiotic stresses in plants. PCD-related genes were induced in tobacco under oxalic acid (OA) treatment (20 mM), and plant cells were characterized to confirm the incidence of PCD. The results indicated that PCD was triggered 24 h after the exposure to OA. Then, RNAs were extracted from tobacco cells 0, 2, 6, 12 and 24 h after treatment for deep sequencing. RNA-Seq analyses were done with a special emphasis to clusters whose PCD-related genes were upregulated after 2 h of OA exposure. Accordingly, 23 tobacco PCD-related genes were knocked down via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), whereas our results indicated the influence of five of them on inducing or suppressing PCD. Knockout T-DNA insertion mutants of these five genes in Arabidopsis were tested under salt stress (0, 100, 150, and 200 mM NaCl), and the results indicated that a mutant of an antiapoptotic gene, namely Bax Inhibitor-1 (BI-1), whose VIGS induced PCD in tobacco, was salt sensitive, while a mutant of an apoptotic gene, namely mildew resistance locus O (Mlo), whose VIGS suppressed PCD, was salt tolerant as compared to the WT (Col) control. These data support our hypothesis that retarding PCD-inducing genes can result in higher levels of salt tolerance, while retarding PCD-suppressing genes can result in lower levels of salt tolerance in plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: bahieldin55@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bahieldin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Dhafer A M
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Alqarni
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atef
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Nour O
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Gadalla
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-matary
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Princess Al-Jawhara Al-Brahim Centre of Excellence in Research of Hereditary Disorders (PACER-HD), Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Sherif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Edris
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Magdy A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Al-Kordy
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Rania M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Makki
authors.affiliation: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdullah A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Al-Doss
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Jamal S M
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Sabir
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammed H Z
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Mutwakil
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), PO Box 80141, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Fotouh M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: El-Domyati
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D020868:Gene Silencing; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019815:Oxalic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D055049:Salt Tolerance / Q000235:genetics*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000737:chemistry; D013997:Time Factors; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C491862:ATBI-1 protein, Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C573497:MLO2 protein, Arabidopsis; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C036483:T-DNA; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D019815:Oxalic Acid
keywords: Knockdown; Knockout; T-DNA; VIGS; sqRT-PCR