Abstract
The SlZF-31 gene is a member of the tomato C2H2 transcription factor family. Previous studies have shown that SlZF-31 gene expression is upregulated under drought stress and salt stress, but the specific function of this gene in tomato plants in response to these two kinds of stress is still unclear. To further explore the function of the SlZF-31 gene in tomato under drought stress and salt stress, we employed the virus-induced gene silencing method to reduce the expression of the SlZF-31 gene in tomato. The results showed that TRV2-SlZF-31 plants had higher levels of wilt and stem bending than CK and CK-TRV2 plants under drought and salt stress. The ABA content of TRV2-SlZF-31 plants were lower than those of CK and CK-TRV2 plants. The analysis of physiological indexes showed that the SOD and POD activity and the proline content of TRV2-SlZF-31 plants were lower than those of CK and CK-TRV2 plants, while the MDA content of TRV2-SLlZF-31 plants was higher than those of CK and CK-TRV2 plants. The accumulation of H2O2 and O2− in TRV2-SlZF-31 plants was greater than those in CK and CK-TRV2 plants. The values of the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (ΦII and qL) of TRV2-SlZF-31 plants were significantly lower than those of CK and CK-TRV2 plants. These results showed that the silencing of the SlZF-31 gene reduces the drought resistance and salt tolerance of tomato. The finding of this study are expected to provide theoretical support for the study of abiotic stress in tomato.
Highlights
Tomatoes are one of the important vegetables in the world, and they inevitably encounter adverse environmental factors during their growth and development, including both biological factors and nonbiological factors
The results showed that the expression of the SlZF-31 gene in CK, CK-TRV2 and TRV2-SlZF-31 plants first increased and decreased under drought stress and salt stress treatment, and that its expression was always lower in TRV2-SlZF-31 plants than in CK and CK-TRV2 plants
These results indicated that virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) exerted a significant silencing effect on tomato SlZF-31 (Fig. 2)
Summary
Tomatoes are one of the important vegetables in the world, and they inevitably encounter adverse environmental factors during their growth and development, including both biological factors and nonbiological factors. Among these factors, drought causes the greatest economic losses in plants among all abiotic stresses (Placide et al 2014) and can have a significant effect on water metabolism in tomato plants. Salt treatment at an appropriate concentration can modulate the flavor, color and soluble substance content of tomato, which is beneficial for improving the sugar-acid ratio of tomato fruit and, the quality of tomato. There are many TFs related to abiotic stress in the whole tomato genetic system, among which the C2H2 zinc finger protein family is composed of TFs associated with abiotic stress
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