Loss of rice PARAQUAT TOLERANCE 3 confers enhanced resistance to abiotic stresses and increases grain yield in field

ABSTRACTPlants frequently suffer from environmental stresses in nature and have evolved sophisticated and efficient mechanisms to cope with the stresses. To balance between growth and stress response, plants are equipped with efficient means to switch off the activated stress responses when stresses diminish. We previously revealed such an off-switch mechanism conferred by Arabidopsis PQT3, knockout of which significantly enhances resistance to abiotic stresses. To explore whether the rice homolog OsPQT3 is functionally conserved, we generated three knockout mutants with CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The OsPQT3 knockout mutants (ospqt3) display enhanced resistance to oxidative and salt stress with elevated expression of OsGPX1, OsAPX1, and OsSOD1. More importantly, the ospqt3 mutants show significantly enhanced agronomic performance with higher yield compared with the wild type under salt stress in greenhouse as well as in field conditions. We further showed that OsPQT3 was rapidly down regulated in response to oxidative and other abiotic stresses as AtPQT3. Taken together, these results support our previous findings that AtPQT3 acts as an off-switch in stress response, which is well conserved in rice. Therefore, PQT3 locus provides a promising candidate for crop improvement with enhanced stress resistance by gene editing technology.

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Interaction of SOS2 with Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase 2 and Catalases Reveals a Point of Connection between Salt Stress and H2O2 Signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.00429-07 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 27 (22) ◽

pp. 7771-7780 ◽

Cited By ~ 122

Author(s):

Paul E. Verslues ◽

Giorgia Batelli ◽

Stefania Grillo ◽

Fernanda Agius ◽

Yong-Sig Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salt Stress ◽

Stress Response ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Double Mutant ◽

Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase ◽

Salt Resistance ◽

Interacting Proteins ◽

Salt Stress Response ◽

Oxygen Signaling ◽

Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase 2

ABSTRACT SOS2, a class 3 sucrose-nonfermenting 1-related kinase, has emerged as an important mediator of salt stress response and stress signaling through its interactions with proteins involved in membrane transport and in regulation of stress responses. We have identified additional SOS2-interacting proteins that suggest a connection between SOS2 and reactive oxygen signaling. SOS2 was found to interact with the H2O2 signaling protein nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2 (NDPK2) and to inhibit its autophosphorylation activity. A sos2-2 ndpk2 double mutant was more salt sensitive than a sos2-2 single mutant, suggesting that NDPK2 and H2O2 are involved in salt resistance. However, the double mutant did not hyperaccumulate H2O2 in response to salt stress, suggesting that it is altered signaling rather than H2O2 toxicity alone that is responsible for the increased salt sensitivity of the sos2-2 ndpk2 double mutant. SOS2 was also found to interact with catalase 2 (CAT2) and CAT3, further connecting SOS2 to H2O2 metabolism and signaling. The interaction of SOS2 with both NDPK2 and CATs reveals a point of cross talk between salt stress response and other signaling factors including H2O2.

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Loss of rice PARAQUAT TOLERANCE 3 confers enhanced resistance to abiotic stresses and increases grain yield in field

Plant Cell & Environment ◽

10.1111/pce.13856 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 (11) ◽

pp. 2743-2754

Author(s):

Alamin Alfatih ◽

Jie Wu ◽

Sami Ullah Jan ◽

Zi‐Sheng Zhang ◽

Jin‐Qiu Xia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Yield ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Enhanced Resistance ◽

Paraquat Tolerance

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Understanding the Integrated Pathways and Mechanisms of Transporters, Protein Kinases, and Transcription Factors in Plants under Salt Stress

International Journal of Genomics ◽

10.1155/2021/5578727 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Wasifa Hafiz Shah ◽

Aadil Rasool ◽

Seerat Saleem ◽

Naveed Ul Mushtaq ◽

Inayatullah Tahir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factors ◽

Salt Stress ◽

Protein Kinases ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Ion Homeostasis ◽

Underlying Mechanism ◽

Regulatory Proteins ◽

Stress Signalling

Abiotic stress is the major threat confronted by modern-day agriculture. Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses that influence geographical distribution, survival, and productivity of various crops across the globe. Plants perceive salt stress cues and communicate specific signals, which lead to the initiation of defence response against it. Stress signalling involves the transporters, which are critical for water transport and ion homeostasis. Various cytoplasmic components like calcium and kinases are critical for any type of signalling within the cell which elicits molecular responses. Stress signalling instils regulatory proteins and transcription factors (TFs), which induce stress-responsive genes. In this review, we discuss the role of ion transporters, protein kinases, and TFs in plants to overcome the salt stress. Understanding stress responses by components collectively will enhance our ability in understanding the underlying mechanism, which could be utilized for crop improvement strategies for achieving food security.

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Genome-wide characterization of WRKY gene family in Helianthus annuus L. and their expression profiles under biotic and abiotic stresses

10.21203/rs.3.rs-17430/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Chong Yang ◽

Juanjuan Li ◽

Faisal Islam ◽

Luyang Hu ◽

Jiansu Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Helianthus Annuus ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Plant Tolerance ◽

Biotic And Abiotic Stresses

Abstract Background: WRKY transcription factors play important roles in various physiological processes and stress responses in flowering plants. However, the information about WRKY genes in Helianthus annuus L. (common sunflower) is limited. Results: Ninety WRKY (HaWRKY) genes were identified and renamed according to their locations on chromosomes. Further phylogenetic analyses classified them into four main groups including a species-specific WKKY group and HaWRKY genes within same group or subgroup generally showed similar exon-intron structures and motif compositions. The tandem and segmental duplication possibly contributed to the diversity and expansion of HaWRKY gene families. Synteny analyses of sunflower WRKY genes provided deep insight to the evolution of HaWRKY genes. Transcriptomic and qRT-PCR analyses of HaWRKY genes displayed distinct expression patterns in different plant tissues, as well as under various abiotic and biotic stresses. Conclusions: Ninety WRKY (HaWRKY) genes were identified from H. annuus L. and classified into four groups. Structures of HaWRKY proteins and their evolutionary characteristics were also investigated. The characterization of HaWRKY genes and their expression profiles under biotic and abiotic stresses in this study provide a foundation for further functional analyses of these genes. Therefore, these functional genes related to increasing the plant tolerance or improving the crop quality, could be applied for the crop improvement..

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Genome-wide characterization of WRKY gene family in Helianthus annuus L. and their expression profiles under biotic and abiotic stresses

10.21203/rs.3.rs-17430/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Chong Yang ◽

Juanjuan Li ◽

Faisal Islam ◽

Luyang Hu ◽

Jiansu Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Helianthus Annuus ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Gene Families ◽

Biotic And Abiotic Stresses

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Salicylic Acid Alleviated Salt Damage of Populus euphratica: A Physiological and Transcriptomic Analysis

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10050423 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 423 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Shupei Rao ◽

Chao Du ◽

Aijia Li ◽

Xinli Xia ◽

Weilun Yin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salicylic Acid ◽

Antioxidant Enzymes ◽

Salt Stress ◽

Stress Response ◽

Protein Kinase ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Growth And Development ◽

Populus Euphratica ◽

Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase ◽

Salt Stress Response

Populus euphratica Oliv. is a model tree for studying abiotic stress, especially salt stress response. Salt stress is one of the most extensive abiotic stresses, which has an adverse effect on plant growth and development. Salicylic acid (SA) is an important signaling molecule that plays an important role in modulating the plant responses to abiotic stresses. To answer whether the endogenous SA can be induced by salt stress, and whether SA effectively alleviates the negative effects of salt on poplar growth is the main purpose of the study. To elucidate the effects of SA and salt stress on the growth of P. euphratica, we examined the morphological and physiological changes of P. euphratica under 300 mM NaCl after treatment with different concentrations of SA. A pretreatment of P. euphratica with 0.4 mM SA for 3 days effectively improved the growth status of plants under subsequent salt stress. These results indicate that appropriate concentrations of exogenous SA can effectively counteract the negative effect of salt stress on growth and development. Subsequently, transcripts involved in salt stress response via SA signaling were captured by RNA sequencing. The results indicated that numerous specific genes encoding mitogen-activated protein kinase, calcium-dependent protein kinase, and antioxidant enzymes were upregulated. Potassium transporters and Na+/H+ antiporters, which maintain K+/Na+ balance, were also upregulated after SA pretreatment. The transcriptome changes show that the ion transport and antioxidant enzymes were the early enhanced systems in response of P. euphratica to salt via SA, expanding our knowledge about SA function in salt stress defense in P. euphratica. This provides a solid foundation for future study of functional genes controlling effective components in metabolic pathways of trees.

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Investigation of an Antioxidative System for Salinity Tolerance in Oenanthe javanica

Antioxidants ◽

10.3390/antiox9100940 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 940

Author(s):

Sunjeet Kumar ◽

Gaojie Li ◽

Jingjing Yang ◽

Xinfang Huang ◽

Qun Ji ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Oxidative Stress ◽

Antioxidant Enzymes ◽

Salt Stress ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Defense Mechanism ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Antioxidant Defense System ◽

Growth And Yield ◽

Oenanthe Javanica ◽

Water Dropwort

Abiotic stress, such as drought and salinity, severely affect the growth and yield of many plants. Oenanthe javanica (commonly known as water dropwort) is an important vegetable that is grown in the saline-alkali soils of East Asia, where salinity is the limiting environmental factor. To study the defense mechanism of salt stress responses in water dropwort, we studied two water dropwort cultivars, V11E0022 and V11E0135, based on phenotypic and physiological indexes. We found that V11E0022 were tolerant to salt stress, as a result of good antioxidant defense system in the form of osmolyte (proline), antioxidants (polyphenols and flavonoids), and antioxidant enzymes (APX and CAT), which provided novel insights for salt-tolerant mechanisms. Then, a comparative transcriptomic analysis was conducted, and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in the carbohydrate metabolic process could reduce oxidative stress and enhance energy production that can help in adaptation against salt stress. Similarly, lipid metabolic processes can also enhance tolerance against salt stress by reducing the transpiration rate, H2O2, and oxidative stress. Furthermore, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed that DEGs involved in hormone signals transduction pathway promoted the activities of antioxidant enzymes and reduced oxidative stress; likewise, arginine and proline metabolism, and flavonoid pathways also stimulated the biosynthesis of proline and flavonoids, respectively, in response to salt stress. Moreover, transcription factors (TFs) were also identified, which play an important role in salt stress tolerance of water dropwort. The finding of this study will be helpful for crop improvement under salt stress.

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Application of Genome Editing in Tomato Breeding: Mechanisms, Advances, and Prospects

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22020682 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 682

Author(s):

Hymavathi Salava ◽

Sravankumar Thula ◽

Vijee Mohan ◽

Rahul Kumar ◽

Fatemeh Maghuly

Keyword(s):

Abiotic Stress ◽

Stress Tolerance ◽

Genome Editing ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Nutritional Quality ◽

Insertional Mutagenesis ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Functional Characterization ◽

Crop Plants

Plants regularly face the changing climatic conditions that cause biotic and abiotic stress responses. The abiotic stresses are the primary constraints affecting crop yield and nutritional quality in many crop plants. The advances in genome sequencing and high-throughput approaches have enabled the researchers to use genome editing tools for the functional characterization of many genes useful for crop improvement. The present review focuses on the genome editing tools for improving many traits such as disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, yield, quality, and nutritional aspects of tomato. Many candidate genes conferring tolerance to abiotic stresses such as heat, cold, drought, and salinity stress have been successfully manipulated by gene modification and editing techniques such as RNA interference, insertional mutagenesis, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR/Cas9). In this regard, the genome editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9, which is a fast and efficient technology that can be exploited to explore the genetic resources for the improvement of tomato and other crop plants in terms of stress tolerance and nutritional quality. The review presents examples of gene editing responsible for conferring both biotic and abiotic stresses in tomato simultaneously. The literature on using this powerful technology to improve fruit quality, yield, and nutritional aspects in tomato is highlighted. Finally, the prospects and challenges of genome editing, public and political acceptance in tomato are discussed.

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Genome-Wide Analysis of DEAD-box RNA Helicase Family in Wheat (Triticum aestivum) and Functional Identification of TaDEAD-box57 in Abiotic Stress Responses

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.797276 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Jing-Na Ru ◽

Ze-Hao Hou ◽

Lei Zheng ◽

Qi Zhao ◽

Feng-Zhi Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salt Stress ◽

Abiotic Stress ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Rna Helicase ◽

Genome Wide Analysis ◽

Dead Box ◽

Genome Wide ◽

Transgenic Lines

DEAD-box RNA helicases constitute the largest subfamily of RNA helicase superfamily 2 (SF2), and play crucial roles in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in worldwide, and abiotic stresses greatly restrict its production. So far, the DEAD-box RNA helicase family has yet to be characterized in wheat. Here, we performed a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of the DEAD-box RNA helicase family in wheat, including phylogenetic relationships, chromosomal distribution, duplication events, and protein motifs. A total of 141 TaDEAD-box genes were identified and found to be unevenly distributed across all 21 chromosomes. Whole genome/segmental duplication was identified as the likely main driving factor for expansion of the TaDEAD-box family. Expression patterns of the 141 TaDEAD-box genes were compared across different tissues and under abiotic stresses to identify genes to be important in growth or stress responses. TaDEAD-box57-3B was significantly up-regulated under multiple abiotic stresses, and was therefore selected for further analysis. TaDEAD-box57-3B was localized to the cytoplasm and plasma membrane. Ectopic expression of TaDEAD-box57-3B in Arabidopsis improved tolerance to drought and salt stress as measured by germination rates, root lengths, fresh weights, and survival rates. Transgenic lines also showed higher levels of proline and chlorophyll and lower levels of malonaldehyde (MDA) than WT plants in response to drought or salt stress. In response to cold stress, the transgenic lines showed significantly better growth and higher survival rates than WT plants. These results indicate that TaDEAD-box57-3B may increase tolerance to drought, salt, and cold stress in transgenic plants through regulating the degree of membrane lipid peroxidation. This study provides new insights for understanding evolution and function in the TaDEAD-box gene family.

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A member of wheat class III peroxidase gene family, TaPRX-2A, enhanced the tolerance of salt stress

10.21203/rs.2.20974/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Peisen Su ◽

Jun Yan ◽

Wen Li ◽

Liang Wang ◽

Jinxiao Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salt Stress ◽

Abiotic Stress ◽

Gene Family ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Abiotic Stresses ◽

Evolutionary Model ◽

Evolutionary Analysis ◽

Class Iii ◽

Expression Levels ◽

Stress Related Genes

Abstract Background: Salt and drought are the main abiotic stresses that restrict the yield of crops. Peroxidases (PRXs) are involved in various abiotic stress responses. Furthermore, only few wheat PRXs have been characterized in the mechanism of the abiotic stress response.Results: In this study, a novel wheat peroxidase (PRX) gene named TaPRX-2A, a member of wheat class III PRX gene family, was cloned and its response to salt stress was characterized. Based on the identification and evolutionary analysis of class III PRXs in 12 plants, we proposed an evolutionary model for TaPRX-2A, suggesting that occurrence of some exon fusion events during evolution. We also detected the positive selection of PRX domain in 13 PRXs involving our evolutionary model, and found 2 or 6 positively selected sites during TaPRX-2A evolution. Quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (qRT–PCR) results showed that TaPRX-2A exhibited relatively higher expression levels in root tissue than those exhibited in leaf and stem tissues. TaPRX-2A expression was also induced by abiotic stresses and hormone treatments such as polyethylene glycol 6000, NaCl, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), salicylic acid (SA), methyljasmonic acid (MeJA) and abscisic acid (ABA). Transgenic wheat plants with overexpression of TaPRX-2A showed higher tolerance to salt stress than wild-type (WT) plants. Confocal microscopy revealed that TaPRX-2A-eGFP was mainly localized in cell nuclei. Survival rate, relative water content, and shoot length were higher in TaPRX-2A-overexpressing wheat than in the WT wheat, whereas root length was not significantly different. The activities of s superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) were enhanced in TaPRX-2A-overexpressing wheat compared with those in the WT wheat, resulting in the reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and malondialdehyde (MDA) content. The expression levels of downstream stress-related genes showed that RD22, TLP4, ABAI, GST22, FeSOD, and CAT exhibited higher expressions in TaPRX-2A-overexpressing wheat than in WT under salt stress.Conclusions: The results show that TaPRX-2A plays a positive role in the response to salt stress by scavenging ROS and regulating stress-related genes.

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