Overexpression of GhMPK3 from Cotton Enhances Cold, Drought, and Salt Stress in Arabidopsis

Salisu Bello Sadau,Sani Ibrahim,Hengling Wei,Shuxun Yu,Sani Muhammad Tajo,Bello Babatunde Kazeem,Adeel Ahmad

doi:10.3390/agronomy11061049

Abstract

Cotton production is hampered by a variety of abiotic stresses that wreak havoc on the growth and development of plants, resulting in significant financial losses. According to reports, cotton production areas have declined around the world as a result of the ongoing stress. Therefore, plant breeding programs are concentrating on abiotic stress-tolerant cotton varieties. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are involved in plant growth, stress responses, and the hormonal signaling pathway. In this research, three abiotic stresses (cold, drought, and salt) were analyzed on GhMPK3 transformed Arabidopsis plants. The transgenic plant’s gene expression and morphologic analysis were studied under cold, drought, and salt stress. Physiological parameters such as relative leaf water content, excised leaf water loss, chlorophyll content, and ion leakage showed that overexpressed plants possess more stable content under stress conditions compared with the WT plants. Furthermore, GhMPK3 overexpressed plants had greater antioxidant activities and weaker oxidant activities. Silencing GhMPK3 in cotton inhibited its tolerance to drought stress. Our research findings strongly suggest that GhMPK3 can be regarded as an essential gene for abiotic stress tolerance in cotton plants.

Highlights

Plants are constantly subjected to different forms of biotic and abiotic stress during their life cycle, including infection, pests, water shortage, high salinity, and extreme temperatures
Phylogenetic analysis between GhMPK3 and Mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) in other plants revealed that GhMPK3 can be found in group A (Figure 1A)
According to the results of this study, the GhMPK3 performs a significant function in improving cold, drought, and salt stress tolerance

Summary

Introduction

Plants are constantly subjected to different forms of biotic and abiotic stress during their life cycle, including infection, pests, water shortage, high salinity, and extreme temperatures. Stress signaling in plant cells is a complex network of interacting proteins organized into segmented cascades in which a molecule’s function depends on the interaction and activation of another molecule. Cotton plants have evolved a variety of complex signaling networks to respond to a variety of metabolic, physiological, and morphological changes throughout evolution [2]. High salinity is among the most significant environmental stress that plants experience. Salinity is one of the most effective stresses affecting plant developments as well as agricultural practices around the world [4,5]. Temperature is a crucial environmental factor for plant development, metabolism, and productivity [6]. Cold stress induces dehydration and disrupts membrane integrity by forming ice crystals [7]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion