VDAC2 involvement in the stress response pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana

The voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) is the major transport protein in the outer membrane of mitochondria, and is involved in the formation of a permeable transition pore and metabolite transport. In this study, we explored the role of Arabidopsis thaliana VDAC2 (AtVDAC2) in the signal transduction pathway in Arabidopsis under salt stress. We investigated the germination rates of AtVDAC2 transgenic lines under salicylic acid (SA) treatment, and found that AtVDAC2 can affect the sensitivity of Arabidopsis to SA. Furthermore, the stomatal apertures of AtVDAC2 transgenic Arabidopsis were calculated. Results showed that the over-expression lines showed the obvious stomatal closure, while in the antisense lines, no obvious changes in stomatal apertures were found. In addition, we also detected the expression levels of salt stress and SA response-associated genes in transgenic plants and found that AtVDAC2 affected the expression of these genes. Our study investigated the role of AtVDAC2 in SA and salt stress response in Arabidopsis; our observations provide some helpful information for better understanding the direct and downstream functions of AtVDAC.