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The overexpression of SlBRI1 driven by Atrd29A promoter-transgenic plants improves the chilling stress tolerance of tomato

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Abstract

Main conclusion

Overexpression of SlBRI1 driven by the Atrd29A promoter could increase the cold resistance of tomato plants during chilling stress but did not improve the expression of SlBRI1 and plant growth under normal conditions.

Abstract

Low temperature is the main limiting factor severely affecting tomato plant development, growth, and fruit quality in winter and spring. Brassinosteroids (BRs) and key BR signaling genes positively regulate tomato plant development and response to chilling stress. Brassinosteroid-insensitive 1 (BRI1) is a major BR receptor that initiates BR signaling. Our results showed that overexpression of SlBRI1 driven by the Atrd29A promoter in transgenic plants did not increase the expression of SlBRI1 under normal conditions but rapidly induced the expression of SlBRI1 during chilling stress. The degree of wilting was lower in Atrd29A promoter-transgenic plants than in wild-type (WT) plants after chilling stress. Atrd29A promoter-transgenic plants exhibited low relative electrolyte leakage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation under chilling stress. Transgenic plants showed higher photosynthetic ability and antioxidant enzyme activity than WT plants under chilling stress. The BR content and expression levels of key genes involved in BR biosynthesis in Atrd29A-promoter transgenic plants were significantly lower than those in WT plants during chilling stress. The abscisic acid (ABA) content and expression levels of key ABA biosynthesis genes in the Atrd29A promoter-transgenic plants were significantly higher than those in the WT plants during chilling stress. In addition, Atrd29A promoter-transgenic plants positively enhanced the expression levels of ICE–CBF–COR cold-responsive pathway genes. Therefore, the overexpression of SlBRI1 driven by the Atrd29A promoter in transgenic plants can be a valuable tool for reducing chilling stress.

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Data availability

The data sets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds of China West Normal University (Nos. 19E051).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637002, Sichuan, China

    Dan Wang, Zaijun Yang, Mengying Feng, Wenwen Yang, Rui Qu & Shuming Nie

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  1. Dan Wang
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  2. Zaijun Yang
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  3. Mengying Feng
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  4. Wenwen Yang
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  5. Rui Qu
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  6. Shuming Nie
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Contributions

DW: performed the experiments and wrote the original draft. ZY: designed the experiments, and revised the manuscript. WY, MF and QR: performed the experiments and data curation. SN: designed the experiments, and wrote and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shuming Nie.

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Communicated by Anastasios Melis.

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Wang, D., Yang, Z., Feng, M. et al. The overexpression of SlBRI1 driven by Atrd29A promoter-transgenic plants improves the chilling stress tolerance of tomato. Planta 259, 11 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04288-9

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