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Effects of ozone on wild type and transgenic tobacco

  • Original Papers
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Biologia Plantarum

Abstract

Tocopherol cyclase (TC, encoded by gene VTE1) catalyzes the penultimate step of tocopherol synthesis. In this study we used wild type and transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing VTE1 from Arabidopsis to examine the role of tocopherol in ozone sensitivity. Wild type plants responded to an 4-h exposure to 300 nmol mol−1 ozone by severe leaf necrosis while the transgenic lines exhibited limited injury. Compared with the wild type, VTE1-overexpressing plants had lower increase in hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde contents and ion leakage, and lower decrease of net photosynthetic rate 48 h following the ozone exposure. Transgenic plants also better maintained the structural integrity of the photosynthetic apparatus.

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Abbreviations

ci :

intercellular CO2 concentration

E:

transpiration rate

gs :

stomatal conductance to water vapor

MDA:

malondialdehyde

OTC:

open-top chamber

PAR:

photosynthetically active radiation

PNmax :

light-saturated net photosynthetic rate

PPFD:

photosynthetic photon flux density

ROS:

reactive oxygen species

TC:

tocopherol cyclase

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nanxincun, Beijing, 100093, P.R. China

    J. Guo, X. F. Li, D. M. Qi, S. Y. Chen, Z. Q. Li, Y. G. Li & G. S. Liu

  2. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, P.R. China

    J. Guo

  3. Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Wilrijk, B-2610, Belgium

    I. Nijs

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  1. J. Guo
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  2. X. F. Li
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  3. D. M. Qi
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  4. S. Y. Chen
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  5. Z. Q. Li
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  6. I. Nijs
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  7. Y. G. Li
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  8. G. S. Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Z. Q. Li or G. S. Liu.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to our co-workers Zhiping Jin and Zhigao Du for assistance with the experiments. This research was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (973, 2007CB108905), the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 30600370), and the Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-N-50).

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Guo, J., Li, X.F., Qi, D.M. et al. Effects of ozone on wild type and transgenic tobacco. Biol Plant 53, 670–676 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-009-0121-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-009-0121-0

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