Abstract
Carotenoids are powerful antioxidants that mediate transfer of electrons, directly affect abiotic stress responses in plants through regulating activity of antioxidant enzymes. ζ-Carotene desaturase (ZDS) is a key enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis pathway, which can catalyze ζ-carotene to form lycopene to regulate carotenoid biosynthesis and accumulation. However, the mechanism of its regulation of saline-alkali stress remains unclear. In this research, based on transcriptomic analysis of Malus halliana with a apple rootstock, we screened out ZDS gene (LOC103451012), with significantly high expression by saline-alkali stress, whose expression in the leaves was 10.8-fold than that of the control (0 h) under 48 h of stress. Subsequently, the MhZDS gene was isolated from M. halliana, and transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana, tobacco, and apple calli were successfully obtained through agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation. We found that overexpression of MhZDS enhanced the tolerance of A. thaliana, tobacco and apple calli under saline-alkali stress and caused a variety of physiological and biochemical changes: compared with wild-type, transgenic plants grew better under saline stress and MhZDS-OE lines showed higher chlorophyll content, POD, SOD, CAT activities and proline content, lower electrical conductivity and MDA content. These results indicate that MhZDS plays an important role in plant resistance to saline-alkali stress, providing excellent resistance genes for the regulatory network of salinity stress response in apples and provide a theoretical basis for the breeding of apple varieties with strong saline-alkali resistance.
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This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Number 31960581 and 32160696).
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XW and YXW designed the research. XW and WXW performed the experiments. YXW and WXW performed the data analysis and interpretation. ZXZ and YXW prepared the figures and tables. XW wrote the manuscript. All authors read, commented on and approved the manuscript.
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Wang, X., Du, L., Wang, W. et al. Functional identification of ZDS gene in apple (Malus halliana) and demonstration of it's role in improving saline–alkali stress tolerance. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 29, 799–813 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-023-01333-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-023-01333-5