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Chalcone synthase EaCHS1 from Eupatorium adenophorum functions in salt stress tolerance in tobacco

Plant Cell Reports volume 34, pages 885–894 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Key message

EaCHS1 functions in the tolerance of plantlets to salinity stress by maintaining ROS homeostasis.

Abstract

Chalcone synthase (CHS) is an essential enzyme in the biosynthesis of flavonoids. Expression of CHS is governed by a wide range of environmental stimuli, including UV light, pathogen attack, and circadian clocks. However, little research exists on the relationship between CHS and salinity stress. In this work, we constructed separate overexpression and RNA interference vectors of EaCHS1, and transferred them into tobacco. Overexpression of EaCHS1 increased the production of downstream flavonoids and the expressions of related genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway. It also improved resistance to salinity stress during seed germination and root development. In contrast, heterologous silencing of endogenous CHS in tobacco by a conserved EaCHS1 fragment had opposite effect. Together, our results indicated that changing the expression level of EaCHS1 in plants alters the accumulation of flavonoids and regulates plantlet tolerance to salinity stress by maintaining ROS homeostasis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31201531) and (31372004). We would like to thank Dr. Zhang Zhijin, Dr. Ma Wei and Dr. Latifur Rehman for reading the manuscript and for their helpful suggestions.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Chen Lijuan, Guo Huiming & Cheng Hongmei

  2. School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China

    Chen Lijuan & Lin Yi

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  1. Chen Lijuan
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  2. Guo Huiming
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  3. Lin Yi
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  4. Cheng Hongmei
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guo Huiming.

Additional information

Communicated by C. H. Dong.

Electronic supplementary material

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299_2015_1751_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Figure S1. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis of EaCHS1 expression in wild-type tobacco (WT), overexpression transgenic tobacco (OETT) lines, and RNAi transgenic tobacco (RTT) lines (TIFF 1061 kb)

Figure S2. Analysis of total flavonoid content in different OETT lines, RTT lines, and WT plants (TIFF 1672 kb)

299_2015_1751_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Figure S3. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis of different core genes’ expressions in WT, OETT lines, and RTT lines.(TIFF 1406 kb)

Figure S4. Histochemical GUS assays of OETT. The methodology of Jefferson (1987) was used (TIFF 2456 kb)

Figure S5. Root growth assays of OETT lines, RTT lines, and WT under salinity conditions. (TIFF 1314 kb)

Figure S6. Germination assay of seeds from OETT lines, RTT lines and WT plants treated with salt stress (TIFF 2296 kb)

299_2015_1751_MOESM7_ESM.tif

Figure S7. Measurements of chlorophyll content, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity, superoxide anion (O2 −) content and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels in WT, OETT lines, and RTT lines treated with 0, 100, or 300 mM NaCl (TIFF 2945 kb)

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Lijuan, C., Huiming, G., Yi, L. et al. Chalcone synthase EaCHS1 from Eupatorium adenophorum functions in salt stress tolerance in tobacco. Plant Cell Rep 34, 885–894 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1751-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1751-7

Keywords

  • Chalcone synthase
  • Eupatorium adenophorum
  • Gene expression
  • Salt stress