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Expression of cold and drought regulatory protein (CcCDR) of pigeonpea imparts enhanced tolerance to major abiotic stresses in transgenic rice plants

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Abstract

Main conclusion

Transgenic rice expressing pigeonpea Cc CDR conferred high-level tolerance to different abiotic stresses. The multiple stress tolerance observed in CcCDR -transgenic lines is attributed to the modulation of ABA-dependent and-independent signalling-pathway genes.

Stable transgenic plants expressing Cajanus cajan cold and drought regulatory protein encoding gene (CcCDR), under the control of CaMV35S and rd29A promoters, have been generated in indica rice. Different transgenic lines of CcCDR, when subjected to drought, salt, and cold stresses, exhibited higher seed germination, seedling survival rates, shoot length, root length, and enhanced plant biomass when compared with the untransformed control plants. Furthermore, transgenic plants disclosed higher leaf chlorophyll content, proline, reducing sugars, SOD, and catalase activities, besides lower levels of MDA. Localization studies revealed that the CcCDR-GFP fusion protein was mainly present in the nucleus of transformed cells of rice. The CcCDR transgenics were found hypersensitive to abscisic acid (ABA) and showed reduced seed germination rates as compared to that of control plants. When the transgenic plants were exposed to drought and salt stresses at vegetative and reproductive stages, they revealed larger panicles and higher number of filled grains compared to the untransformed control plants. Under similar stress conditions, the expression levels of P5CS, bZIP, DREB, OsLEA3, and CIPK genes, involved in ABA-dependent and-independent signal transduction pathways, were found higher in the transgenic plants than the control plants. The overall results amply demonstrate that the transgenic rice expressing CcCDR bestows high-level tolerance to drought, salt, and cold stress conditions. Accordingly, the CcCDR might be deployed as a promising candidate gene for improving the multiple stress tolerance of diverse crop plants.

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Abbreviations

CcCDR:

Cold and drought regulatory protein

CaMV 35S:

Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter

MDA:

Malonaldehyde

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Acknowledgements

This project is supported by grants from the Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. MS and TS are thankful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for the award of a Research Fellowship. The authors are grateful to Prof. T. Papi Reddy of the Department of Genetics, Osmania University, for his suggestions.

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    1. Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Osmania University, Hyderabad, 500007, India

      Mellacheruvu Sunitha, Tamirisa Srinath, Vudem Dashavantha Reddy & Khareedu Venkateswara Rao

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    1. Mellacheruvu Sunitha
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    Correspondence to Khareedu Venkateswara Rao.

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    M. Sunitha and T. Srinath contributed equally.

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    Sunitha, M., Srinath, T., Reddy, V.D. et al. Expression of cold and drought regulatory protein (CcCDR) of pigeonpea imparts enhanced tolerance to major abiotic stresses in transgenic rice plants. Planta 245, 1137–1148 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-017-2672-1

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