A novel cold-inducible zinc finger protein from soybean, SCOF-1, enhances cold tolerance in transgenic plants

The pollen grains produced by flowering plants are vital for sexual reproduction. Previous studies have shown that two CCCH-type zinc-finger protein genes in Brassica campestris, BcMF30a and BcMF30c, are involved in pollen development. Due to their possible functional redundancy, gain-of-function analysis is helpful to reveal their respective biological functions. Here, we found that the phenotypes of BcMF30a and BcMF30c overexpression transgenic plants driven by their native promoters were similar, suggesting their functional redundancy. The results showed that the vegetative growth was not affected in both transgenic plants, but male fertility was reduced. Further analysis found that the abortion of transgenic pollen was caused by the degradation of pollen contents from the late uninucleate microspore stage. Subcellular localization analysis demonstrated that BcMF30a and BcMF30c could localize in cytoplasmic foci. Combined with the studies of other CCCH-type genes, we speculated that the overexpression of these genes can induce the continuous assembly of abnormal cytoplasmic foci, thus resulting in defective plant growth and development, which, in this study, led to pollen abortion. Both the overexpression and knockout of BcMF30a and BcMF30c lead to abnormal pollen development, indicating that the appropriate expression levels of these two genes are critical for the maintenance of normal pollen development.

Download Full-text

Overexpression of a New Zinc Finger Protein Transcription FactorOsCTZFP8Improves Cold Tolerance in Rice

International Journal of Genomics ◽

10.1155/2018/5480617 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yong-Mei Jin ◽

Rihua Piao ◽

Yong-Feng Yan ◽

Mojun Chen ◽

Ling Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Cold Stress ◽

Cold Tolerance ◽

Zinc Finger ◽

Transgenic Rice ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Zinc Finger Protein ◽

Single Copy ◽

Finger Protein ◽

Protein Transcription

Cold stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses in rice. C2H2zinc finger proteins play important roles in response to abiotic stresses in plants. In the present study, we isolated and functionally characterized a new C2H2zinc finger protein transcription factorOsCTZFP8in rice.OsCTZFP8encodes a C2H2zinc finger protein, which contains a typical zinc finger motif, as well as a potential nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a leucine-rich region (L-box). Expression ofOsCTZFP8was differentially induced by several abiotic stresses and was strongly induced by cold stress. Subcellular localization assay and yeast one-hybrid analysis revealed that OsCTZFP8 was a nuclear protein and has transactivation activity. To characterize the function ofOsCTZFP8in rice, the full-length cDNA ofOsCTZFP8was isolated and transgenic rice with overexpression ofOsCTZFP8driven by the maize ubiquitin promoter was generated usingAgrobacterium-mediated transformation. Among 46 independent transgenic lines, 6 single-copy homozygous overexpressing lines were selected by Southern blot analysis and Basta resistance segregation assay in both T1and T2generations. Transgenic rice overexpressingOsCTZFP8exhibited cold tolerant phenotypes with significantly higher pollen fertilities and seed setting rates than nontransgenic control plants. In addition, yield per plant ofOsCTZFP8-expressing lines was significantly (p<0.01) higher than that of nontransgenic control plants under cold treatments. These results demonstrate thatOsCTZFP8was a C2H2zinc finger transcription factor that plays an important role in cold tolerance in rice.

Download Full-text