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Overexpression of a PLDα1 gene from Setaria italica enhances the sensitivity of Arabidopsis to abscisic acid and improves its drought tolerance

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Abstract

Phospholipase D (PLD) plays an important role in various physiological processes in plants, including drought tolerance. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of the full-length cDNA of PLDα1 from foxtail millet, which is a cereal crop with high water use efficiency. The expression pattern of the SiPLDα1 gene in foxtail millet revealed that it is up-regulated under dehydration, ABA and NaCl treatments. Heterologous overexpression of SiPLDα1 in Arabidopsis can significantly enhance their sensitivity to ABA, NaCl and mannitol during post-germination growth. Under water deprivation, overexpression of SiPLDα1 in Arabidopsis resulted in significantly enhanced tolerance to drought stress, displaying higher biomass and RWC, lower ion leakage and higher survival percentages than the wild type. Further analysis indicated that transgenic plants showed increased transcription of the stress-related genes, RD29A, RD29B, RAB18 and RD22, and the ABA-related genes, ABI1 and NCED3 under dehydration conditions. These results demonstrate that SiPLDα1 is involved in plant stress signal transduction, especially in the ABA signaling pathway. Moreover, no obvious adverse effects on growth and development in the 35S::SiPLDα1 transgenic plants implied that SiPLDα1 is a good candidate gene for improving crop drought tolerance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key Project of Transgenic Organisms in China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Yunling Peng

  2. College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Yunling Peng

  3. College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Gaoyi Cao, Xihui Liu & Minhui Lu

  4. Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Jinpeng Zhang, Yuanhong Xie & Guoying Wang

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  1. Yunling Peng
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  2. Jinpeng Zhang
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  3. Gaoyi Cao
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  4. Yuanhong Xie
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  5. Xihui Liu
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  6. Minhui Lu
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  7. Guoying Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guoying Wang.

Additional information

Communicated by E. Guiderdoni.

Y. Peng and J. Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Peng, Y., Zhang, J., Cao, G. et al. Overexpression of a PLDα1 gene from Setaria italica enhances the sensitivity of Arabidopsis to abscisic acid and improves its drought tolerance. Plant Cell Rep 29, 793–802 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-010-0865-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-010-0865-1

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