Abstract
The Arabidopsis RRTF1 promoter is transiently activated by salt stress over 6 hours, before it quickly reverts to pre-stress levels, even if the salt stress continues. This allows the short-term expression of components that, although initially beneficial to the plant, will have negative effects if continuously produced at high levels. We therefore tested the application of the RRTF1 promoter to drive the activity of the SHO gene which is responsible for the production of certain cytokinin derivatives in plants. Transgenic plants with RRTF1 promoter-controlled SHO activity showed significant improvements in seed germination and survival rates under salt stress without any phenotypic alterations. In addition, the transgenic seedlings displayed significantly improved recovery rates from salt stress compared with the wild type. These observations support the use of the RRTF1 promoter for controlled cytokinin production alleviating the negative impact of salt stress without affecting plant morphology.
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13 November 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-021-01322-6
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Key message
• RRTF1 promoter provides conditional salt stress expression of SHO gene
• RRTF1pro::SHO transgenic lines display significant salt tolerance response
• RRTF1pro::SHO transgenic lines show no plant developmental alternation to wild type
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Soliman, E.R.S., Meyer, P. Expression of the SHO Gene Under Control of a Stress-Specific Promoter RRTF1 Improves Salt Tolerance in Arabidopsis. Plant Mol Biol Rep 39, 617–625 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-020-01275-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-020-01275-2