Abstract
We previously identified the rice (Oryza sativa) senescence-associated gene OsSAP which encodes a highly conserved protein involved in anti-apoptotic activity. This novel Bax suppressor-related gene regulates tolerance to multiple stresses in yeast. Here, we show the effects of drought stress on leaf and root tissues of plants over-expressing OsSAP in relation to the levels of phytohormones, abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), indole-3-carboxylic acid (ICA), gibberellic acid (GA3), and zeatin. Results showed that rice plants over-expressing SAP were tolerant to drought stress compared to wild type and the plants over-expressing AtBI-1, which is a homolog of the human Bax inhibitor-1 in Arabidopsis. ABA and JA levels in OsSAP and AtBI-1 transgenic plants consistently increased up to at least 3 days after drought treatment, whereas lower GA3 levels were recorded during early drought period. Comparison between control and transgenic plants overexpressing anti-apoptosis genes OsSAP and AtBI-1 resulted in different patterns of hormone levels, indicating that these genes are involved in the plant responses to drought stress and present an opportunity for further study on drought stress tolerance in rice and other plant species.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13205-016-0564-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Different abiotic stresses caused by extremes of temperature, salinity, water and nutrient shortage have always been the key limiting factors for agricultural production
We previously identified the rice (Oryza sativa) senescence-associated gene OsSAP which encodes a highly conserved protein involved in anti-apoptotic activity
Results showed that rice plants over-expressing SAP were tolerant to drought stress compared to wild type and the plants over-expressing AtBI-1, which is a homolog of the human BCL2-associated X protein (Bax) inhibitor-1 in Arabidopsis
Summary
Different abiotic stresses caused by extremes of temperature, salinity, water and nutrient shortage have always been the key limiting factors for agricultural production. These are considered to play a major role in the deterioration of agricultural ecosystems around the world, causing an average 50% reduction in crop yield (Boyer 1982). Various abiotic stresses lead to a plethora of physiological and biomolecular changes that negatively affect plant productivity (Wang et al 2001). These changes are mainly the outcome of the overall plant responses aimed at tolerating the stress and prioritizing the most important physiological processes. The Pro-apoptotic factor BCL2-associated X protein (Bax) plays a central role in
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