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Published on: April 17, 2016
Tonoplast sugar transporter ZmTST1 positively regulates plant growth, salt and drought tolerance
1The Engineering Research Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, Shandong, PR China; College of Horticulture, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, Shandong, PR China; Yantai Technology Center of Characteristic Plant Gene Editing and Germplasm Innovation, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, Shandong, PR China.
Abstract:
Tonoplast sugar transporters (TSTs) play crucial roles in plant growth, development and abiotic stress. However, their potential functions in maize remain unexplored. In this study, we identified four ZmTST family genes in the maize genome and investigated the biological functions of ZmTST1 in regulating growth and its response to salt and drought stresses. ZmTST1 was ubiquitously expressed in leaves, stems, roots, fully mature tassels, cobs, embryos, endosperms and seeds, and was significantly induced upregulated expression by NaCl and drought stresses. The expression of ZmTST1 rescued the growth defects of the Arabidopsis double-knockout mutant (attst1-2::tDNA). Transgenic Arabidopsis expressing ZmTST1 exhibited promoted growth, increased seed yield and enhanced salt and drought tolerance. Further antioxidant enzyme activity and stress-related gene expression analyses showed that transgenic Arabidopsis increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities, and proline content, but decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and accompanied with up-regulated expression of stress-inducible marker genes (SOS1, RD29A, RAB18, and P5CS1). Our findings demonstrated that ZmTST1 participated in the regulation of plant growth, yield and stress resistance, and it can be used for cultivating new maize varieties with improved yield and stress resistance.
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