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Enhancement of phenol stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing glutathione S-transferase

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Abstract

Plant glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are important for protecting plants against oxidative damage. We studied the function of a glutathione S-transferase family protein in Arabidopsis, AtGSTF2. Our results indicate the transgenic plants showed increased tolerance to oxidative stress caused by application of phenol. Under phenol stress, the lipid hydroperoxidation [the production of malondialdehyde (MDA)] of the leaves in overexpressing lines was suppressed compared with that of control plants. The antioxidative enzyme activities (SOD and POD) were higher in transgenic plants than in control. Furthermore, the residual phenol in medium was decreased more in transgenic plants than in control plants. These results indicate overexpressing GST protein reduce the damage of lipid hydroperoxidation and oxidative damage caused by phenol. Our findings also provide a suitable remediation strategy for sites contaminated by phenol.

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Acknowledgements

This research study was sponsored by Shanghai Rising-Star Program (14QB1403400); Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (13ZR1460600); National Natural Science Foundation (31300237, 31401458); Youth Talents Growth Plan of Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences (No: 2015-1-26).

Author contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RHP and QHY. Performed the experiments: JX, YST, ZSX and XJX. Analyzed the data: XJX, BZ and XYF. Wrote the paper: JX and YST.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetics and Breeding, Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 2901 Beidi Rd, Shanghai, China

      Jing Xu, Yong-Sheng Tian, Xiao-Juan Xing, Zhi-Sheng Xu, Bo Zhu, Xiao-Yan Fu, Ri-He Peng & Quan-Hong Yao

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    1. Jing Xu
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    Correspondence to Quan-Hong Yao.

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    Jing Xu and Yong-Sheng Tian are contributed equally to the article.

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    Xu, J., Tian, YS., Xing, XJ. et al. Enhancement of phenol stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing glutathione S-transferase. Plant Growth Regul 82, 37–45 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-016-0235-2

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