Abstract
C2H2 zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) play important roles in plant development and response to abiotic stresses, and have been studied extensively. However, there are few studies on ZFPs in mangroves and mangrove associates, which represent a unique plant community with robust stress tolerance. MpZFP1, which is highly induced by salt stress in the mangrove associate Millettia pinnata, was cloned and functionally characterized in this study. MpZFP1 protein contains two zinc finger domains with conserved QALGGH motifs and targets to the nucleus. The heterologous expression of MpZFP1 in Arabidopsis increased the seeds’ germination rate, seedling survival rate, and biomass accumulation under salt stress. The transgenic plants also increased the expression of stress-responsive genes, including RD22 and RD29A, and reduced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These results indicate that MpZFP1 is a positive regulator of plant responses to salt stress due to its activation of gene expression and efficient scavenging of ROS.
Highlights
Arable lands are suffering from continuous salinization at an annual rate of ~10%due to environmental changes and poor cultural practices
The full-length sequence of cDNA, which was deposited in GenBank under accession number MZ934391, comprised a 543 bp open reading frame (ORF), a 111 bp 5 untranslated region (UTR), and a 177 bp 3 UTR (Figure 1A)
A BLASTP homolog search of GenBank indicated that the deduced MpZFP1 sequences showed high similarity with the predicted zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) of Glycine max (XP_003552680.1 67%), Solanum lycopersicum (XP_004239776.1, 57%), Petunia X hybirda (BAA21923.1, 55%), Vitis vinifera (XP_002284111.1, 55%), Ricinus communis (XP_002528469.1, 53%), and Arabidopsis (AT2G37430.1/ZAT11, 43%) (Figure 1B)
Summary
Arable lands are suffering from continuous salinization at an annual rate of ~10%due to environmental changes and poor cultural practices. Salt stress has multiple deleterious effects on plant growth and is a major environmental factor reducing crop productivity. Improving the salt tolerance of crops through genetic modification is a potential approach for optimum economic sustainability [1,2]. The generation of salt-resistant crops relies on the discovery of plant stress-responsive mechanisms and the availability of genetic resources. Pongamia pinnata) belongs to the semi-mangrove (or mangrove associate) growing within intertidal zones in tropical and subtropical regions, and possesses a high degree of salt tolerance [3,4]. It is suggested that the mechanisms that Pongamia uses to cope with the high saline environment are tightly linked to gene regulation and protein function [3,4,5]
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