Overexpression of Arabidopsis YUCCA6 enhances environment stress tolerance and inhibits storage root formation in sweetpotato

Abstract

Auxin is a major plant hormone that regulates many developmental processes in plants. Arabidopsis thaliana YUCCA6 (AtYUCCA6) mediates the tryptophan-dependent auxin biosynthesis pathway in A. thaliana. To study the effect of auxin in sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam], we generated transgenic sweetpotato plants expressing AtYUCCA6 under the control of the oxidative stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter (referred to as SY plants). SY plants displayed high-auxin phenotypic traits such as narrow downward-curled leaves, increased height, and increased node numbers. SY plants showed increased tolerance to 5 μM of methyl viologen-mediated oxidative stress by maintaining a lower ion leakage than wild-type (WT) plants. Moreover, SY plants exhibited higher relative water contents and lower malondialdehyde contents than WT plants under drought stress. Young SY plants also showed inhibition of adventitious root growth. SY plants showed significantly lower storage root formation than WT plants. Our results indicate that AtYUCCA6-mediated auxin overproduction is associated with tolerance to oxidative and drought stress. It also suggests that negatively regulates the formation of storage roots in sweetpotato.