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AtCPK6, a functionally redundant and positive regulator involved in salt/drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

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An Erratum to this article was published on 11 July 2010

Abstract

The calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) family is needed in plant signaling during various physiological pathways. The Arabidopsis AtCPK6 gene belongs to the subclass of stress-inducible CDPKs, which is stimulated by salt and osmotic stress. To elucidate the physiological function of AtCPK6, transgenic Arabidopsis plants under the control of double CaMV 35S promoter were obtained. AtCPK6 over-expressing plants showed enhanced tolerance to salt/drought stresses. The elevated tolerance of the AtCPK6 over-expressing plants was confirmed by the change of proline and malondialdehyde (MDA). Real-time PCR analyses revealed that the expression levels of several stress-regulated genes were altered in AtCPK6 over-expressing plants. However, cpk6 mutant displayed no obvious difference with control. These results are likely to indicate that AtCPK6 is functionally redundant and a positive regulator involved in the tolerance to salt/drought stress in Arabidopsis.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

CDPK:

Calcium-dependent protein kinase

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

PEG:

Polyethylene glycol

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TBA:

Thiobarbituric acid

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Julian I. Schroeder (University of California at San Diego, USA) for providing the seeds of loss-of-function mutant cpk6-1. This research was supported by Shanghai and National Natural Science Foundation (30670179, 08ZR1417200); 863 Program (2006AA10Z117, 2006AA06Z358, 2008AA10Z401); Shanghai Project for ISTC (08540706500); The Key Project Fund of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Agriculture (No. 2008-7-5) and Shanghai Rising-Star Program (08QH14021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agro-Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 2901 Beidi Rd, Shanghai, 201106, China

    Jing Xu, Yong-Sheng Tian, Ri-He Peng, Ai-Sheng Xiong, Bo Zhu, Xiao-Fen Jin, Feng Gao, Xiao-Yan Fu & Quan-Hong Yao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Jing Xu & Xi-Lin Hou

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  1. Jing Xu
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Correspondence to Xi-Lin Hou or Quan-Hong Yao.

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J. Xu and Y.-S. Tian contributed equally to this article.

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1216-8

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Xu, J., Tian, YS., Peng, RH. et al. AtCPK6, a functionally redundant and positive regulator involved in salt/drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Planta 231, 1251–1260 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1122-0

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