Abstract
We describe here the functional characterization of a novel AtSAP10, a member of the Stress Associated Protein (SAP) gene family, from Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia. AtSAP10 contains an A20 and AN1 zinc-finger domain at the N- and C-terminal, respectively. Arabidopsis SAP10 showed differential regulation by various abiotic stresses such as heavy metals and metalloids (Ni, Cd, Mn, Zn, and As), high and low temperatures, cold, and ABA. Overexpression of AtSAP10 in Arabidopsis conferred strong tolerance to heavy metals such as Ni, Mn, and Zn and to high temperature stress. AtSAP10 transgenic plants under these stress conditions grew green and healthy, attained several-fold more biomass, and had longer roots as compared to wild type plants. Further, while these transgenic plants accumulated significantly greater amounts of Ni and Mn in both shoots and root tissues, there was no significant difference in the accumulation of Zn. AtSAP10 promoter-GUS fusion studies revealed a root and floral organ-specific expression of AtSAP10. Overexpression of AtSAP10-GFP fusion protein showed the localization in both nucleus and cytoplasm. Taken together, these results showed that AtSAP10 is a potentially useful candidate gene for engineering tolerance to heavy metals and to abiotic stress in cultivated plants.
Highlights
Plants are constantly exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions such as drought, high salinity, extreme temperatures, and heavy metals
We report a functional characterization of the AtSAP10 gene
We have shown that AtSAP10 is differentially regulated by heavy metals (AsIII, AsV, Cd, Ni, Zn, and Mn), heat, cold, salt, and ABA
Summary
Plants are constantly exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions such as drought, high salinity, extreme temperatures, and heavy metals. These stresses can induce various biochemical and physiological changes that result in plant growth inhibition and productivity. Kanneganti and Gupta [4] suggested ‘‘tolerance to multiple stress conditions can be achieved by overexpressing transcription factor(s) that are involved in controlling multiple genes from various pathways or by overexpressing genes involved in abiotic stress signal perception and transduction.’’. Members of SAP family have the characteristic A20/AN1 zinc-finger domains, and are shown to play a central role in regulating the immune response [6,7,8,9]. Most Type I genes lack introns and contain one intact A20 type domain and/or one AN1 type zincfinger domain; most Type II genes have a single intron but do not contain an A20 domain
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