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Expression of tobacco tocopherol cyclase in rice regulates antioxidative defense and drought tolerance

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Abstract

Tocopherols (α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocopherol) represent a group of lipophilic antioxidants that are synthesized only by photosynthetic organisms. It is widely believed that the main functions of tocopherols are protection of pigments and proteins of photosystem and polyunsaturated fatty acids from oxidative damage caused by reactive oxygen species. In the present study, we report on the cloning and characterization of NtTC, which is a tocopherol cyclase (TC) ortholog isolated from tobacco. To enhance tocopherol contents, we generated independent transgenic rice events in expressing NtTC or NtTC along with Perilla γ-tocopherol methyltransferase genes. The transgenic TC line significantly increased α-, total tocopherol, total glutathione, and total antioxidant status activity levels compared with the wild type. Furthermore, TC rice plants showed higher tolerance to drought than wild-type rice plants. On the basis of these studies, we concluded that overexpression of NtTC could increase the tolerance to drought stress and that the increase in tocopherol affects cellular signaling and antioxidant defense of plants in response to drought.

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Abbreviations

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TC:

Tocopherol cyclase

GSH:

Glutathione

TAS:

Total antioxidant status

RT:

Reverse transcription

GC:

Gas chromatography

TOF-MS:

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry

IS:

Internal standard

ORF:

Open reading frame

γ-TMT:

γ-Tocopherol methyltransferase

VTE:

Arabidopsis thaliana vitamin E biosynthetic gene

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank Kyung-Hwan Kim and Kijong Lee for kindly providing us the pC3301-TMT plasmid containing the γ-TMT gene. This study was supported by a grant from Research Program for Agricultural Science & Technology Development (Project No. PJ008545), National Academy of Agricultural Science and the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (Plant Molecular Breeding Center No. PJ008021), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Academy of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration (RDA), Suwon, 441-707, Korea

    Hee-Jong Woo, Soo-In Sohn, Kong-Sik Shin, Beom-Gi Kim & Myung-Ho Lim

  2. Division of Life Sciences, College of Life Sciences and Bioengineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, 406-772, Korea

    Jae-Kwang Kim

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  1. Hee-Jong Woo
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  2. Soo-In Sohn
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  3. Kong-Sik Shin
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  4. Jae-Kwang Kim
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  5. Beom-Gi Kim
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  6. Myung-Ho Lim
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Correspondence to Hee-Jong Woo.

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All authors contributed equally to this work.

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Woo, HJ., Sohn, SI., Shin, KS. et al. Expression of tobacco tocopherol cyclase in rice regulates antioxidative defense and drought tolerance. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 119, 257–267 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-014-0530-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-014-0530-4

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