Abstract
Dehydrins (DHNs), group 2 of late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins, are up-regulated in most plants during cold, drought, heat, or salinity stress. All DHNs contain at least one K-segment, which is believed to play a significant role in DHN function by forming an amphipathic helix. In previous studies, wzy2, an YSK2-type DHN gene, was isolated from the Zhengyin 1 cultivar of Triticum aestivum under cold and drought stress treatment conditions. Four WZY2 truncated derivatives were constructed to knock out the K-, Y- or S-segment, which potentially affect the function of the protein. In vivo assays of Escherichia coli viability enhancement, in vitro lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity protection and ex vivo protein aggregation prevention assays revealed that WZY2 acted as a protectant and improved stress tolerance during temperature variation. The results also showed that unlike the truncated derivative without K-segments, the derivative containing two K-segments had remarkable effects that were similar to those of full-length WZY2, indicating that the K-segment is the major functional component of WZY2. Moreover, compared with the other segments, the first K-segment might be the most critical contributor to WZY2 functionality. In general, this work highlights the behavior of DHNs in relieving cold stress ex vivo and the contribution of the K-segment to DHN function.
Highlights
Abiotic stress such as cold, drought, heat, or salinity can cause plant dehydration and even death
Sequence Analysis of WZY2 and its Truncated Derivatives To determine whether the K-segment is necessary for WZY2, we constructed a series of truncated recombinant WZY2 proteins (Figure 1 and Supplementary Figure S1)
Dehydrins are a group of intrinsically disordered proteins that respond to abiotic and biotic stresses
Summary
Abiotic stress such as cold, drought, heat, or salinity can cause plant dehydration and even death. As a typical response to such stress, most plants up-regulate the expression of dehydrins (DHNs), which are group 2 of late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins; these proteins are believed to participate in plant environmental stress tolerance (Close, 1997). Most DHNs have one to three repeats of the Y-segment (T/VDEYGNP) near their N-terminus. The unique characteristic of DHNs is their lysine-rich consensus domain, EKKGIMDKIKEKLPG, which is referred to as the K-segment (Close, 1996) and plays an active role in protecting cellular macromolecules and lipidmembranes (Koag et al, 2009; Drira et al, 2013). Five types of DHNs have been identified based on the existence of these three segments: YmSKn, Kn, KnS, SKn, and YmKn (Close, 1996). The -segment, which is noteworthy, is interspersed throughout DHNs, shows lower conservation and is
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