title: Overexpression of wheat ubiquitin gene, Ta-Ub2, improves abiotic stress tolerance of Brachypodium distachyon.
abstract: Ubiquitination plays an important role in regulating plant's development and adaptability to abiotic stress. To investigate the possible functions of a wheat monoubiquitin gene Ta-Ub2 in abiotic stress in monocot and compare it with that in dicot, we generated transgenic Brachypodium plants overexpressing Ta-Ub2 under the control of CaMV35s and stress-inducible RD29A promoters. The constitutive expression of Ta-Ub2 displayed slight growth inhibition in the growth of transgenic Brachypodium distachyon under the control conditions. However, this inhibition was minimized by expression of Ta-Ub2 under the control of stress-inducible RD29A promoter. Compared with WT, the transgenic plants preserved more water and showed higher enzymatic antioxidants under drought stress, which might be related to the change in the expression of some antioxidant genes. The expression of C-repeat binding factors transcription factor genes in the transgenic B. distachyon lines were upregulated under water stress. Salt and cold tolerances of transgenic B. distachyon were also improved. Although the phenotypic changes in the transgenic plants were different, overexpression of Ta-Ub2 improved the abiotic stress tolerance in both dicot and monocot plants. The improvement in Ta-Ub2 transgenic plants in abiotic stress tolerance might be, at least partly, through regulating the gene expression and increasing the enzymatic antioxidants.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Hanhan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, PR China; Collaborative Innovation Center, Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, 272067, PR China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Shumei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agriculture, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Qifang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agriculture, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Fengjuan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agriculture, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, PR China. Electronic address: jiajiewu@sdau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiajie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, PR China. Electronic address: wangw@sdau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D058431:Brachypodium / Q000502:physiology*; D003681:Dehydration; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000502:physiology*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000502:physiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D054875:Ubiquitination / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins
keywords: Abiotic stress tolerance; Brachypodium distachyon; Enzymatic antioxidants; Growth and development; Transcription factors; Ubiquitin