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Overexpression of MdPHR1 Enhanced Tolerance to Phosphorus Deficiency by Increasing MdPAP10 Transcription in Apple (Malus ×  Domestica)

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Abstract

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient during plant growth and development. It is involved in the formation of important compounds in plants, such as phospholipids, ATP, and nucleic acids. However, phosphorus is distributed unevenly in most soils, and exists primarily in the form of organophosphorus, which plants cannot use. In this study, the AtPHR1 homolog MdPHR1 was identified in apple. Our results showed that MdPHR1 contained a MYB domain and a coiled-coil domain, which were conserved in AtPHR1. The MdPHR1 transgenic lines had higher acid phosphatase activity and phosphorus content than the wild-type under phosphorus limited conditions. Overexpression of MdPHR1 enhanced tolerance to phosphorus deficiency in apple calli and Arabidopsis seedlings, and MdPHR1 could bind to the P1BS cis-element of MdPAP10 and activated its transcription. Collectively, our experimental evidence suggests that MdPHR1 may be the central regulator of the system controlling transcriptional responses to Pi starvation in apple.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Agricultural Variety Improvement Project of Shandong Province (2019LZGC007), Shandong Education Department (J18KA174), the Ministry of Agriculture (CARS-27) and the NSFC (31471854) for funding this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Collaborative Innovation Center of Fruit & Vegetable Quality and Efficient Production, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, People’s Republic of China

    Rui Li, Jian-Ping An, Chun-Xiang You, Xiao-Fei Wang & Yu-Jin Hao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Rui Li

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  1. Rui Li
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Contributions

Y-JH, X-FW and RL designed the research. RL, J-PA, and C-XY performed the experiments and analyzed the data. Y-JH, RL and X-FW wrote the manuscript text.

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Correspondence to Xiao-Fei Wang or Yu-Jin Hao.

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344_2020_10225_MOESM3_ESM.jpg

Supplementary file3 (JPG 628 kb) Supplementary Fig. 1 BCIP staining of wild-type and MdPHR1 transgenic Arabidopsis in + Pi and − Pi medium

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Supplementary file4 (JPG 3659 kb) Supplementary Fig. 2 Surface-associated APase activity of wild type and MdPHR1 transgenic Arabidopsis in + Pi and − Pi medium. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences between the samples (P < 0.05)

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Li, R., An, JP., You, CX. et al. Overexpression of MdPHR1 Enhanced Tolerance to Phosphorus Deficiency by Increasing MdPAP10 Transcription in Apple (Malus ×  Domestica). J Plant Growth Regul 40, 1753–1763 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10225-x

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