title: Ectopic Expression of DREB Transcription Factor, AtDREB1A, Confers Tolerance to Drought in Transgenic Salvia miltiorrhiza.
abstract: Drought decreases crop productivity more than any other type of environmental stress. Transcription factors (TFs) play crucial roles in regulating plant abiotic stress responses. The Arabidopsis thaliana gene DREB1A/CBF3, encoding a stress-inducible TF, was introduced into Salvia miltiorrhiza Ectopic expression of AtDREB1A resulted in increased drought tolerance, and transgenic lines had higher relative water content and Chl content, and exhibited an increased photosynthetic rate when subjected to drought stress. AtDREB1A transgenic plants generally displayed lower malondialdehyde (MDA), but higher superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) activities under drought stress. In particular, plants with ectopic AtDREB1A expression under the control of the stress-induced RD29A promoter exhibited more tolerance to drought compared with p35S::AtDREB1A transgenic plants, without growth inhibition or phenotypic aberrations. Differential gene expression profiling of wild-type and pRD29A::AtDREB1A transgenic plants following drought stress revealed that the expression levels of various genes associated with the stress response, photosynthesis, signaling, carbohydrate metabolism and protein protection were substantially higher in transgenic plants. In addition, the amount of salvianolic acids and tanshinones was significantly elevated in AtDREB1A transgenic S. miltiorrhiza roots, and most of the genes in the related biosynthetic pathways were up-regulated. Together, these results demonstrated that inducing the expression of a TF can effectively regulate multiple genes in the stress response pathways and significantly improve the resistance of plants to abiotic stresses. Our results also suggest that genetic manipulation of a TF can improve production of valuable secondary metabolites by regulating genes in associated pathways.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China.
authors.forename: Kejun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China.
authors.forename: Dongqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Yonghong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Meiling
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Lipeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China.
authors.forename: Xuelian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Chunguo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenqin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China chencb@nankai.edu.cn zhangyong916@uestc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chengbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China chencb@nankai.edu.cn zhangyong916@uestc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D045784:Abietanes / Q000378:metabolism; D000475:Alkenes / Q000378:metabolism; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D055864:Droughts; D000066630:Ectopic Gene Expression; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D059808:Polyphenols / Q000378:metabolism; D027561:Salvia miltiorrhiza / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D045784:Abietanes; D000475:Alkenes; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C114578:DREB1A protein, Arabidopsis; D059808:Polyphenols; D014157:Transcription Factors; C568740:salvianolic acid; C021751:tanshinone; D014867:Water; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D002374:Catalase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase
keywords: Antioxidant defense; AtDREB1A; Bioactive compounds; Drought; Photosynthesis; Salvia miltiorrhiza