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The heterologous expression in Arabidopsis of a chrysanthemum Cys2/His2 zinc finger protein gene confers salinity and drought tolerance

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Abstract

Zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) play an important role in plant growth and development. Here, we describe the isolation of CgZFP1, a Cys2/His2 (C2H2) ZFP gene, using RACE PCR from chrysanthemum, and the investigation of its function with ectopic expression in Arabidopsis. CgZFP1 contains two conserved C2H2 regions, a nuclear localization domain (B box), a Leu-rich domain (L box) and a conserved DLN sequence (DLN box) close to its C-terminus. Its expression in the chrysanthemum leaf was strongly induced by salinity or drought, but not by ABA. Subcellular localization assay indicated that CgZFP1 protein is localized in nucleus in vivo. Yeast-one hybrid assay showed that CgZFP1 possesses transcriptional activation ability, heterologous expression of CgZFP1 conferred tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis plants to both salinity and drought stresses. Under salinity stress, genes involved in osmotic adjustment, ROS scavenging, and ion homeostasis: Atlea3, AtP5CS2, AtProT1, and AtMnSOD, AtPOD, AtAPX1, and AtSOS1, AtSOS2, AtSOS3, AtNHX1 were enhanced in CgZFP1 transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Moreover, genes involved in the osmotic adjustment and oxidative stress responses: Atlea3, AtP5CS2, AtProT1, the aquaporin AtPIP2A, and AtMnSOD, AtPOD, AtAPX1 were induced in CgZFP1 transgenic Arabidopsis under drought stress. These results indicate CgZFP1 is an important regulator involved in the salt and drought stress response in plants.

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Abbreviations

Ade:

Adenine

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

His:

Histidine

Leu:

Leucine

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction

RACE:

Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends

SOS:

Salt overly sensitive

Trp:

Tryptophan

ZFP:

Zinc finger proteins

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30872064, 31071820, 31071825), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (KYJ200907, KYZ201112), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant No. NCET-10-0492), A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and was sponsored by Qing Lan Project of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. 2008 No. 30).

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  1. College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Haishun Gao, Aiping Song, Xirong Zhu, Fadi Chen, Jiafu Jiang, Yu Chen, Yan Sun, Hong Shan, Chunsun Gu, Peiling Li & Sumei Chen

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  1. Haishun Gao
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  2. Aiping Song
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  3. Xirong Zhu
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Gao, H., Song, A., Zhu, X. et al. The heterologous expression in Arabidopsis of a chrysanthemum Cys2/His2 zinc finger protein gene confers salinity and drought tolerance. Planta 235, 979–993 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-011-1558-x

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