title: Ectopic expression of a cyanobacterial flavodoxin in creeping bentgrass impacts plant development and confers broad abiotic stress tolerance.
abstract: Flavodoxin (Fld) plays a pivotal role in photosynthetic microorganisms as an alternative electron carrier flavoprotein under adverse environmental conditions. Cyanobacterial Fld has been demonstrated to be able to substitute ferredoxin of higher plants in most electron transfer processes under stressful conditions. We have explored the potential of Fld for use in improving plant stress response in creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.). Overexpression of Fld altered plant growth and development. Most significantly, transgenic plants exhibited drastically enhanced performance under oxidative, drought and heat stress as well as nitrogen (N) starvation, which was associated with higher water retention and cell membrane integrity than wild-type controls, modified expression of heat-shock protein genes, production of more reduced thioredoxin, elevated N accumulation and total chlorophyll content as well as up-regulated expression of nitrite reductase and N transporter genes. Further analysis revealed that the expression of other stress-related genes was also impacted in Fld-expressing transgenics. Our data establish a key role of Fld in modulating plant growth and development and plant response to multiple sources of adverse environmental conditions in crop species. This demonstrates the feasibility of manipulating Fld in crop species for genetic engineering of plant stress tolerance.
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China.|Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Shuangrong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.|The Applied Plant Genomics Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Bioinformatics Centre, and National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.|Crop Research Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Fangyuan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Man
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Peipei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Dongfa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D031703:Agrostis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055864:Droughts; D005418:Flavodoxin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D006358:Hot Temperature; D010269:Paraquat / Q000633:toxicity; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005418:Flavodoxin; D010940:Plant Proteins; D010269:Paraquat
keywords: abiotic stress tolerance; cyanobacterial flavodoxin; drought tolerance; heat tolerance; methyl viologen resistance; nitrogen starvation; transgenics; turfgrass