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Overexpression of dehydration-responsive element-binding 1 protein (DREB1) in transgenic Solanum tuberosum enhances tolerance to biotic stress

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Abstract

Plant growth and productivity are greatly affected by environmental stresses such as dehydration, high salinity, low temperature and pathogen infection. Plant adaptation to these environmental stresses is controlled by cascades of molecular networks. The dehydration-responsive element-binding (DREB) transcription factors play an important role in the response of plants to environmental stresses by controlling the expression of many stress-related genes. They specifically interact with C-repeat/DRE (A/GCCGAC) sequences present in the promoter regions of target genes. One of the DREB1 cDNA was previously cloned and overexpressed in transgenic potato plants. These transgenic plants displayed an improved tolerance to high salinity and drought stresses. The StDREB1 factor belongs to A-4 group that seem to be involved in biotic stress response. This report investigates the effect of Fusarium solani infection on the StDREB1 transgenic lines. Since a number of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins are considered as DREB1 target genes, the expression of PR2, PR9 and PR3 genes were tested under biotic stress conditions. The β-1,3-glucanase (PR2) was specifically induced upon infection, whereas the chitinase and the peroxydase were expressed constitutively. The data also show that high levels of DREB1 transcripts accumulated rapidly when wild-type and transgenic plants were infected by F. solani. DREB1 transgenic potato plants accumulated higher levels of pathogenesis-related gene transcripts, such as PR2. These results showed that StDREB1 plays an important role in response to fungal attack in potato.

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Abbreviations

CBF/DREB:

c-Repeat binding factor/Dehydration-responsive element-binding

DRE:

Dehydration-responsive element

PR:

Pathogenesis related

ERF:

Ethylene-responsive factor

LEA:

Late embryogenesis abundant

AP2:

Apetala2

bZIP:

Basic region leucine zipper

RAV:

Related to ABI3/VP1

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Acknowledgments

This work was financed by the Tunisian Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research. Authors are grateful to Dr. Anne-Lise Haenni from Institute Jacques Monod (France) for her kind help with the English language and to Mofida Bouaziz-Kannoun from the “Institut Supérieur d’Administration des Affaires de Sfax” (Tunisia) for her kind help with the English language.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Unité d’Enzymes et Bioconversion, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Route Soukra Km 4, BP 1173, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

      Mariam Charfeddine, Safa Charfeddine, Asma Hammami & Radhia Gargouri Bouzid

    2. Laboratoire des Biotechnologies Végétales, Appliquées à l’Amélioration des Cultures, Route Soukra Km 4, BP 1173, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

      Mariam Charfeddine, Donia Bouaziz, Safa Charfeddine, Asma Hammami, Oumèma Nouri Ellouz & Radhia Gargouri Bouzid

    3. Département de Biologie et Géologie, Institut Préparatoire aux Etudes d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Route de Menzel Chaker km 0.5, BP 1172, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

      Oumèma Nouri Ellouz

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    1. Mariam Charfeddine
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    Correspondence to Mariam Charfeddine.

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    M. Charfeddine and D. Bouaziz have contributed equally to this work.

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    Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 659 kb)

    Fig S1: RT-PCR analyses of StDREB1 mRNA expression using 25 cycles in potato plants inoculated with F. solani at different treatment periods (a) StDREB1 gene transcription 7 dpi with F. solani (b) log2 (StDREB1 expression level in inoculated plants/control plants) (c) log2 (StDREB1 expression level in transgenic plants/NT ones) (d).

    Fig S2: Evaluation of Log2 (stem elongation of transgenic plants/stem elongation of NT) under control conditions and 7dpi with F. solani

    Fig S3: RT-PCR analyses of the expression of: a PR2 b PR3 c PR9 d ef1α in Nicola cultivar after 7 dpi with F. solani. The 25 cycles PCR amplification products are presented for Controls: non-infected plants in addition to F. solani infected ones.

    Fig S4: RT-PCR analyses using 25 cycles of the expression of the stress-induced PR2 gene (a) and ef1α (b) in transgenic lines (BF1 BF2 BF3 BF4 and BF5) and in NT (BF) plants under standard conditions and 7 dpi with F. solani.

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    Charfeddine, M., Bouaziz, D., Charfeddine, S. et al. Overexpression of dehydration-responsive element-binding 1 protein (DREB1) in transgenic Solanum tuberosum enhances tolerance to biotic stress. Plant Biotechnol Rep 9, 79–88 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-015-0345-8

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