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Silencing of dehydrin CaDHN1 diminishes tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses in Capsicum annuum L.

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Abstract

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We cloned a dehydrins gene CaDHN1 from pepper and the expression of CaDHN1 was markedly upregulated by cold, salt, osmotic stresses and salicylic acid (SA) treatment.

Abstract

Dehydrins (DHNs) are a subfamily of group 2 late embryogenesis-abundant (LEA) proteins that are thought to play an important role in enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in plants. In this study, a DHN EST (Expressed Sequence Tag) was obtained from 6 to 8 true leaves seedlings of pepper cv P70 (Capsicum annuum L.) by our laboratory. However, the DHN gene in pepper was not well characterized. According to this EST sequence, we isolated a DHN gene, designated as CaDHN1, and investigated the response and expression of this gene under various stresses. Our results indicated that CaDHN1 has the DHN-specific and conserved K- and S- domain and encodes 219 amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis showed that CaDHN1 belonged to the SKn subgroup. Tissue expression profile analysis revealed that CaDH N1 was expressed predominantly in fruits and flowers. The expression of CaDHN1 was markedly upregulated in response to cold, salt, osmotic stresses and salicylic acid (SA) treatment, but no significant change by abscisic acid (ABA) and heavy metals treatment. Loss of function of CaDHN1 using the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technique led to decreased tolerance to cold-, salt- and osmotic-induced stresses. Overall, these results suggest that CaDHN1 plays an important role in regulating the abiotic stress resistance in pepper plants.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported through funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (#31201615, #31272163), Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Fund [CX(12)1004], the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (#2011JQ3010), the Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Coordinating Innovative Engineering Project (#2012KTCL02-09), and the Northwest A&F University Cyrus Tang Seed Development Fund.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

      Ru-gang Chen, Hua Jing, Wei-li Guo, Fang Ma & Zhen-Hui Gong

    2. School of Horticulture Landscape Architecture, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, Henan, China

      Wei-li Guo

    3. Institute of Vegetable Crops, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210014, China

      Shu-Bin Wang, Bao-Gui Pan & Zhen-Hui Gong

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    1. Ru-gang Chen
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    2. Hua Jing
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    3. Wei-li Guo
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    Correspondence to Ru-gang Chen or Zhen-Hui Gong.

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    Communicated by A. Dhingra.

    Ru-gang Chen, Hua Jing, Wei-li Guo and Shu-Bin Wang are contributed equally to this work.

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    Chen, Rg., Jing, H., Guo, Wl. et al. Silencing of dehydrin CaDHN1 diminishes tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses in Capsicum annuum L.. Plant Cell Rep 34, 2189–2200 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1862-1

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