Analysis of Some Divalent Metal Contents in Tobacco Expressing the Exogenous Soybean Ferritin Gene

Abstract

T2 tobacco lines overexpressing soybean ferritin in the plastids (+TPs) or apoplasm (AFs) under the regulation of CaMV 35S promoter were grown on MS nutrient solution. After 1 month growth, statuses of six major divalent‐metals (Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, and Zn) were measured in leaves and roots. Both +TPs and AFs showed enhanced growth (max. 1.7×) in leaves than the control line. The Fe contents in leaves of +TPs and AFs were significantly larger (1.9–2.8×) than that of the control line. The other metal contents in leaves of +TPs and AFs were almost the same as or less than those of the control line. In contrast to the result of leaves, the growth enhancement in roots was not clear in +TPs, but in AFs. Also, some of the non‐ferrous metal contents in roots of +TPs and AFs were dramatically increased compared with those of the control line (Mn, 1.9–10.4×; Zn, 1.6–2.3×), whereas the differences in content of Fe, Cu, Ca, and Mg were insignificant. These results demonstrated that the ferritin overexpression in apoplasm was as effective for inducing Fe accumulation as that in plastid. Under the normal metal‐balanced condition, even if the activation of Fe uptake related enzymes leads to the accumulation of non‐specific accumulation of divalent metal ions in roots, an Fe loading/unloading system and/or an internal translocator in xylem and phloem might specifically deliver Fe to the upper part of plants.