Knockdown of PagSAP11 Confers Drought Resistance and Promotes Lateral Shoot Growth in Hybrid Poplar (Populus alba × Populus tremula var. glandulosa)

Frontiers in Plant Science

Eun-Kyung Bae¹  Hyun-A Jang¹  Hyoshin Lee¹  Su Jin Park¹  Seo-Kyung Yoon²  Hyunmo Choi³  Young-Im Choi⁴ 

[1] Department of Forest Bioresources, National Institute of Forest Science, Suwon, South Korea;Department of Forest Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea;Forest Biomaterials Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science, Jinju, South Korea;National Forest Seed and Variety Center, Forest Service, Chungju, South Korea;

关键词: stress-associated protein;    PagSAP11;    drought tolerance;    lateral shoot branching;    bud dormancy;    hybrid poplar;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpls.2022.925744

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Plants have evolved defense mechanisms to overcome unfavorable climatic conditions. The growth and development of plants are regulated in response to environmental stress. In this study, we investigated the molecular and physiological characteristics of a novel gene PagSAP11 in hybrid poplar (Populus alba × Populus tremula var. glandulosa) under drought stress. PagSAP11, a stress-associated protein (SAP) family gene, encodes a putative protein containing an A20 and AN1 zinc-finger domain at its N- and C-termini, respectively. Knockdown of PagSAP11 transgenic poplars (SAP11-Ri) enhanced their tolerance to drought stress compared with wild type plants. Moreover, the RNAi lines showed increased branching of lateral shoots that led to a gain in fresh weight, even when grown in the living modified organism (LMO) field. In SAP11-Ri transgenic plants, the expression levels of genes involved in axillary bud outgrowth and cell proliferation such as DML10, CYP707A and RAX were increased while the DRM gene which involved in bud dormancy was down-regulated. Taken together, these results indicate that PagSAP11 represents a promising candidate gene for engineering trees with improved stress tolerance and growth during unfavorable conditions.

【 授权许可】

Unknown