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Overexpression of wheat TaNCED gene in Arabidopsis enhances tolerance to drought stress and delays seed germination

  • Original Paper
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Biologia Plantarum

Abstract

Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates various plant physiological processes, especially participates in the plant responses to harsh environments. The 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is a key enzyme in ABA biosynthesis pathway. Here, a TaNCED with an 1 887-bp open reading frame was cloned from wheat, which encodes a peptide of 628 amino acids. A chloroplast transit peptide sequence was found at the N-terminus of the TaNCED protein. Multiple sequence alignments indicate that the TaNCED protein shared high similarities with other NCEDs from different species. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis shows that expression of TaNCED was strongly up-regulated by treatments with ABA, polyethylene glycol, and drought stress, and it was down-regulated during germination of the wheat seeds. Ectopic overexpression of the TaNCED gene in Arabidopsis resulted in an increase of endogenous ABA and free proline content. A lower water loss rate and stomatal conductance of leaves were found in the transgenic plants in comparison with the wild type. Subsequently, the transgenic plants displayed an enhanced tolerance to drought stress but delayed seed germination. These data provide evidence that the TaNCED might play a primary role in regulation of ABA content during water stress and seed dormancy.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

abscisic acid

DEX:

dexamethasone

Fv/Fm :

variable to maximum chlorophyll fluorescence ratio (maximum efficiency of photosystem II)

g s :

stomatal conductance

NCED:

9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase

ORF:

open reading frame

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

PPFD:

photosynthetic photon flux density

vp14 :

viviparous 14

WT:

wild type

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Liaoning Normal University and Key Laboratory of Plant Biotechnology of Liaoning Province, Dalian, 116081, P.R. China

    S.-M. Tong, H.-X. Xi, K.-J. Ai & H.-S Hou

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  1. S.-M. Tong
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  2. H.-X. Xi
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  3. K.-J. Ai
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  4. H.-S Hou
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Correspondence to H.-S Hou.

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Acknowledgements: The first two authors contributed equally to this research.

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Tong, SM., Xi, HX., Ai, KJ. et al. Overexpression of wheat TaNCED gene in Arabidopsis enhances tolerance to drought stress and delays seed germination. Biol Plant 61, 64–72 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-016-0692-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-016-0692-5

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