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Increased gibberellin contents contribute to accelerated growth and development of transgenic tobacco overexpressing a wheat ubiquitin gene

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Overexpressing TaUb2 promoted stem growth and resulted in early flowering in transgenic tobacco plants. Ubiquitin are involved in the production, metabolism and proper function of gibberellin.

Abstract

The ubiquitin–26S proteasome system (UPS), in which ubiquitin (Ub) functions as a marker, is a post-translational regulatory system that plays a prominent role in various biological processes. To investigate the impact of different Ub levels on plant growth and development, transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants were engineered to express an Ub gene (TaUb2) from wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under the control of cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing TaUb2 demonstrated an accelerated growth rate at early stage and an early flowering phenotype in development. The preceding expression of MADS-box genes also corresponded to the accelerated developmental phenotypes of the transgenic tobacco plants compared to that of wild-type (WT). Total gibberellin (GA) and active GA contents in transgenic tobacco plants were higher than those in WT at the corresponding developmental stages, and some GA metabolism genes were upregulated. Treatment with GA3 conferred a similarly accelerated grown rate in WT plants to that of transgenic tobacco plants, while growth was inhibited when transgenic tobacco plants were treated with a GA biosynthesis inhibitor. Thus, the results suggest that Ub are involved in the production, metabolism and proper function of GA, which is important in the regulation of plant growth and development.

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Abbreviations

ELISA:

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

FW:

Fresh weight

GA:

Gibberellin

Ub:

Ubiquitin

UPS:

Ubiquitin–26S proteasome system

WT:

Wild type

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30671259).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Guo-Kun Wang, Meng Zhang, Jiang-Feng Gong, Qi-Fang Guo, Ya-Nan Feng & Wei Wang

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  1. Guo-Kun Wang
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  2. Meng Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wei Wang.

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Communicated by J. Zou.

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Wang, GK., Zhang, M., Gong, JF. et al. Increased gibberellin contents contribute to accelerated growth and development of transgenic tobacco overexpressing a wheat ubiquitin gene. Plant Cell Rep 31, 2215–2227 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-012-1331-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-012-1331-z

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