Abstract
The SNAC1 gene belongs to the stress-related NAC superfamily of transcription factors. It was identified from rice and overexpressed in cotton cultivar YZ1 by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. SNAC1-overexpressing cotton plants showed more vigorous growth, especially in terms of root development, than the wild-type plants in the presence of 250 mM NaCl under hydroponic growth conditions. The content of proline was enhanced but the MDA content was decreased in the transgenic cotton seedlings under drought and salt treatments compared to the wild-type. Furthermore, SNAC1-overexpressing cotton plants also displayed significantly improved tolerance to both drought and salt stresses in the greenhouse. The performances of the SNAC1-overexpressing lines under drought and salt stress were significantly better than those of the wild-type in terms of the boll number. During the drought and salt treatments, the transpiration rate of transgenic plants significantly decreased in comparison to the wild-type, but the photosynthesis rate maintained the same at the flowering stage in the transgenic plants. These results suggested that overexpression of SNAC1 improve more tolerance to drought and salt in cotton through enhanced root development and reduced transpiration rates.
Highlights
Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity and extreme temperatures have a crucial impact on agricultural productivity and yields
By increasing the understanding of the NAC transcription factor class in controlling abiotic stress responses, practical approaches had been developed for engineering stress tolerance in crops [27]
SNAC1 was predominantly induced in guard cells by drought, and overexpression of SNAC1 in rice showed significantly improved drought resistance and salt tolerance with higher seed setting than the control under severe drought stress conditions at the reproductive stage [11]
Summary
Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity and extreme temperatures have a crucial impact on agricultural productivity and yields. Climate models indicated that abiotic stresses would increase in the near future because of global climate change [1]. Drought and salinity would be the two major factors that adversely affect crop growth and productivity. Cotton showed higher drought and salt tolerance than other major crops such as rice, wheat and maize. Abiotic stress still greatly affected cotton in growth and yield. Farmers plan to enlarge the planted area of cotton in western China, which is not suitable for food crops because of salinity and water shortage. Improved drought and salt tolerance of cotton through biotechnology has become an urgent task
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