OsRhoGAP2 promoter drives inflorescence-preferential expression and confers responses to abiotic stresses in transgenic Arabidopsis

Abstract

Plants deploy different strategies to respond and adapt to various stresses. Given that stresses affect plant growth and activity, the responses and tolerance of crops to stresses must be improved through genetic engineering. Inducible promoters, which have vital roles in gene expression and function, are highly desired in biotechnology applications. Thus, novel inducible promoters must be isolated and identified for genetic engineering to improve crop stress responses and tolerance. OsRhoGAPs are involved in plant defense against diverse stresses. In this study, we identified OsRhoGAP2, which is preferentially expressed in rice inflorescences. We isolated the OsRhoGAP2 promoter and analyzed its functions in transgenic Arabidopsis. We fused the GUS reporter with six 5′ deletion fragments (gp1–gp6) of the OsRhoGAP2 promoter with different lengths. Through histochemical analysis, we detected GUS activity in the inflorescences of transgenic Arabidopsis containing gp1, gp3, gp4, and gp5 constructs but not in transgenic Arabidopsis containing gp2 and gp6 constructs. The GUS activity in transgenic plants containing gp1–gp6 constructs changed under different stress treatments. Bioinformatics analysis and experimental results revealed that the core fragment involved in the inflorescence-preferential expression of OsRhoGAP2 and stress responses may be located in the − 706 bp to + 1 bp, or the translated start site, of OsRhoGAP2. Results indicate that OsRhoGAP2 has a conserved role in stress tolerance and exhibits tissue-specific expression patterns in several plant species. This work provides novel insights into the appropriate promoter resources for plant genetic transformation and useful references for biotechnologists to improve stress tolerance in rice.