title: Improved drought tolerance in wheat plants overexpressing a synthetic bacterial cold shock protein gene SeCspA.
abstract: Cold shock proteins (CSPs) enhance acclimatization of bacteria to adverse environmental circumstances. The Escherichia coli CSP genes CspA and CspB were modified to plant-preferred codon sequences and named as SeCspA and SeCspB. Overexpression of exogenous SeCspA and SeCspB in transgenic Arabidopsis lines increased germination rates, survival rates, and increased primary root length compared to control plants under drought and salt stress. Investigation of several stress-related parameters in SeCspA and SeCspB transgenic wheat lines indicated that these lines possessed stress tolerance characteristics, including lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content, lower water loss rates, lower relative Na+content, and higher chlorophyll content and proline content than the control wheat plants under drought and salt stresses. RNA-seq and qRT-PCR expression analysis showed that overexpression of SeCsp could enhance the expression of stress-responsive genes. The field experiments showed that the SeCspA transgenic wheat lines had great increases in the 1000-grain weight and grain yield compared to the control genotype under drought stress conditions. Significant differences in the stress indices revealed that the SeCspA transgenic wheat lines possessed significant and stable improvements in drought tolerance over the control plants. No such improvement was observed for the SeCspB transgenic lines under field conditions. Our results indicated that SeCspA conferred drought tolerance and improved physiological traits in wheat plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Tai-Fei
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Zhao-Shi
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Shijiazhuang Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Research Center of Wheat Engineering Technology of Hebei, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050041, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Kao
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Shijiazhuang Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Research Center of Wheat Engineering Technology of Hebei, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050041, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Xia
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Georgia, 30602, Athens, GA, United States.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abernathy
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Dong
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Bin
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Xing-Guo
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)/National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: You-Zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000254:growth & development; D057773:Cold Shock Proteins and Peptides / Q000235:genetics*; D055864:Droughts; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018525:Germination; D010641:Phenotype; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013696:Temperature; D014908:Triticum
chemical_list: D057773:Cold Shock Proteins and Peptides; C498192:CspA protein, E coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins