Abstract
To obtain a better understanding of the function of mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP) in higher plants, the wheat gene for mitochondrial uncoupling protein (WhUCP) in rice was overexpressed by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation with a construct containing the WhUCP ORF under control of the 35S promoter. The transgenic rice plants showed a significant increase in tolerance against oxidative stress promoted by exogenous hydrogen peroxide at the seedling stage. The transgenic rice plants overexpressing WhUCP also exhibited greater tolerance against cold stress than did the wild-type plants. These results demonstrated that the mitochondrial UCP in higher plants is positively involved in the pathway for abiotic stress tolerance, probably through a decrease in cellular oxidative damage, and that controlled uncoupling by UCP could be used for improvement of stress tolerance in higher plants.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Drs. Y. Ohashi and I. Mitsuhara, NIAS for providing the expression vector pMLH7133. This work was supported in part by a research grant (Research Project for Development of Innovative Transgenic Plants) from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan to K.O. and H.H.
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Kenjirou Ozawa and Seiji Murayama are contributed equally to the work
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Ozawa, K., Murayama, S., Kobayashi-Uehara, A. et al. Overexpression of wheat mitochondrial uncoupling protein in rice plants confers tolerances to oxidative stresses promoted by exogenous hydrogen peroxide and low temperature. Mol Breeding 18, 51–56 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-006-9015-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-006-9015-4