Abstract
Expansins are cell wall proteins involved in cell wall loosening and structural remodeling. In this study, we evaluated the transcript levels of 36 expansin genes in Populus tomentosa under heat stress (42 °C) and normal growth conditions (25 °C). One expansin gene, PttEXPA8, significantly up-regulated in leaves under heat stress, was cloned and transformed into tobacco (Nicotiana tobacum). The transgenic and wild-type tobacco plants were subjected to a 10-day heat treatment, and morphological and physiological parameters (relative electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde content, chlorophyll content, and superoxide dismutase activity) were measured. The results showed that the transgenic plants were more heat-resistant than the wild-type plants. It concluded that PttEXPA8 could be a valuable gene resource conferring heat resistance. The report here contributes to our knowledge of the functions of expansins in woody plants, and also contributes to our knowledge of the molecular mechanism of heat tolerance in poplar.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Belfield EJ, Ruperti B, Roberts JA, McQueen-Mason S (2005) Changes in expansin activity and gene expression during ethylene-promoted leaflet abscission in Sambucus nigra. J Exp Bot 56:817–823
Chen F, Dahal P, Bradford KJ (2001) Two tomato expansin genes show divergent expression and localization in embryos during seed development and germination. Plant Physiol 127:928–936
Chen YK, Liu YX, Ding YN, Wang XT, Xu JC (2015) Overexpression of PtPCS enhances cadmium tolerance and cadmium accumulation in tobacco. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 121:389–396
Cho HT, Cosgrove DJ (2000) Altered expression of expansin modulates leaf growth and pedicel abscission in Arabidopsis thaliana. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:9783–9788
Cosgrove DJ, Bedinger P, Durachko DM (1997) Group I allergens of grass pollen as cell wall loosening agents. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:6559–6564
Ding XH, Cao YL, Huang LL, Zhao J, Xu CG, Li XH, Wang SP (2008) Activation of theindole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase GH3-8 suppresses expansin expression and promotes salicylate-and jasmonate-independent basal immunity in rice. Plant Cell 20:228–240
Dotto MC, Martínez GA, Civello PM (2006) Expression of expansin genes in strawberry varieties with contrasting fruit firmness. Plant Physiol Biochem 44:301–307
Doyle JJ, Doyle JL (1987) A rapid DNA isolation procedure for small quantities of leaf tissue. Phytochem Bull 19:11–15
Fleming AJ, McQueen-Mason S, Mandel T, Kuhlemeier C (1997) Induction of leaf primordia by the cell wall protein expansin. Science 276:1415–1418
Fleming AJ, Caderas D, Wehrli E, McQueen-Mason S, Kuhlemeier C (1999) Analysis of expansin induced morphogenesis on the apical meristem of tomato. Planta 208:166–174
Geilfus CM, Zörb C, Mühling KH (2010) Salt stress differentially affects growth-mediating β-expansins in resistant and sensitive maize (Zea mays L.). Plant Physiol Biochem 48:993–998
Goh HH, Sloan J, Dorca-Fornell C, Fleming A (2012) Inducible repression of multiple expansin genes leads to growth suppression during leaf development. Plant Physiol 159:1759–1770
He XY, Zeng JB, Cao FB, Ahmed IM, Zhang GP, Vincze E, Wu FB (2015) HvEXPB7, a novel β-expansin gene revealed by the root hair transcriptome of Tibetan wild barley, improves root hair growth under drought stress. J Exp Bot. doi:10.1093/jxb/erv436
Hoagland DR, Arnon DI (1950) The water-culture method for growing plants without soil. Circ Calif Agric Exp Sta 347:32
Ishimaru M, Smith DL, Gross KC, Kobayashi S (2007) Expression of three expansin genes during development and maturation of Kyoho grape berries. J Plant Physiol 164:1675–1682
Kam MJ, Yun HS, Kaufman PB, Chang SC, Kim SK (2005) Two expansins, EXP1 and EXPB2, are correlated with the growth and development of maize roots. J Plant Biol 48:304–310
Kwasniewski M, Szarejko I (2006) Molecular cloning and characterization of β-expansin gene related to root hair formation in barley. Plant Physiol 141:1149–1158
Lee DK, Ahn JH, Song SK, Choi YD, Lee JS (2003) Expression of an expansin gene is correlated with root elongation in soybean. Plant Physiol 131:985–997
Lee BH, Henderson DA, Zhu JK (2005) The Arabidopsis cold-responsive transcriptome and its regulation by ICE1. Plant Cell 17:3155–3175
Li F, Xing SC, Guo QF, Zhao MR, Zhang J, Gao Q, Wang GP, Wang W (2011) Drought tolerance through over-expression of the expansin gene TaEXPB23 in transgenic tobacco. J Plant Physiol 168:960–966
Li HY, Shi Y, Ding YN, Xu JC (2014) Bioinformatics analysis of expansin gene family in poplar genome. J Beijing For Univ 36(2):59–67
Lin C, Choi HS, Cho HT (2011) Root hair-specific EXPANSIN A7 is required for root hair elongation in Arabidopsis. Mol Cells 31:393–397
Lü P, Kang M, Jiang XQ, Dai FW, Gao JP, Zhang CQ (2013) RhEXPA4, a rose expansin gene, modulates leaf growth and confers drought and salt tolerance to Arabidopsis. Planta 237:1547–1559
McQueen-Mason S, Cosgrove DJ (1994) Disruption of hydrogen bonding between wall polymers by proteins that induce plant wall extension. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:6574–6578
McQueen-Mason S, Durachko DM, Cosgrove DJ (1992) Two endogenous proteins that induce cell wall extension in plant. Plant Cell 4:1425–1433
Pezzotti M, Feron R, Mariani C (2002) Pollination modulates expression of the PPAL gene, a pistil-specific β-expansin. Plant Mol Biol 49:187–197
Pien S, Wyrzykowska J, McQueen-Mason S, Smart C, Fleming AJ (2001) Local expression of expansin induces the entire process of leaf development and modifies leaf shape. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:11812–11817
Suzuki H, Oshita E, Fujimori N, Nakajima Y, Kawagoe Y, Suzuki S (2015) Grape expansins, VvEXPA14 and VvEXPA18 promote cell expansion in transgenic Arabidopsis plant. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 120:1077–1085
Xu JC, Tian J, Belanger FC, Huang BR (2007) Identification and characterization of an expansin gene AsEXP1 associated with heat tolerance in C3 Agrostis grass species. J Exp Bot 58:3789–3796
Xu Q, Xu X, Shi Y, Xu JC, Huang BR (2014) Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing a grass PpEXP1 gene exhibit enhanced tolerance to heat stress. PLoS ONE 9:e100792
Zhang ZY, Li FL, Zhu ZT, Kang XY (1997) Doubling technology of pollen chromosome of P. tomentosa and its hybrids. J Beijing For Univ 6:145–153
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (#J1103516) for funding support.
Author contributions
Jichen Xu designed research; Huabo Liu and Haoyang Li performed research; Haoyang Li, Bingliang Xie and Hao Zhang contributed reagents/analytic tools; Huabo Liu and Jian Li analyzed data; Huabo Liu, Haoyang Li and Jichen Xu wrote the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Huabo Liu and Haoyang Li have contributed equally to this work.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, H., Li, H., Zhang, H. et al. The expansin gene PttEXPA8 from poplar (Populus tomentosa) confers heat resistance in transgenic tobacco. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 126, 353–359 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-016-1003-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-016-1003-8