Abstract
Various abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, high temperature, and chilling adversely affect plant growth and productivity. Terminal drought stress is one of the major concerns which limits the growth and yield of chickpeas. Calmodulin binding transcription activator (CAMTA) plays a vital role in stress tolerance in plants. In this study, the role of the CAMTA gene was assessed by over-expression in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in response to drought and salinity stress. The over-expressing lines of the CAMTA gene have shown enhanced activities of various antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), glutathione S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR)). The reduced stress markers TBARS and H2O2 enhanced the survival of plants against both stresses. The physiological parameters (net photosynthesis; PN, transpiration; E, stomatal conductance; gs, photochemical quenching; qP, non-photochemical quenching; qN, and electron transport rate; ETR) were improved in the transgenics under both the stresses that protected the plants from damage. This investigation verified that the CAMTA gene provides tolerance against drought and salinity by maintaining biochemical, physiological, and morphological performances and could be exploited for genetic engineering strategies to overcome the stresses in other economically important crops.
Key message
CAMTA transcription factor modulates drought and salinity stress in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).
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The data generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, for funding the research project BSC0204. The authors are also thankful to DST, New Delhi (M) CSIR, New Delhi (AK, AKD) UGC, New Delhi (VK, SN) for providing research fellowships. Institutional manuscript number : CSIR-NBRI_MS/2021/10/04.
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This study was funded by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (BSC0204).
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M: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Roles/Writing—original draft, Writing—review and editing, AK: Formal analysis, Investigation, AKD: Formal analysis, VK: Investigation, SN: Investigation, SVS: Supervision, VP: Supervision, PAS: Formal analysis, IS: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Supervision, Writing—review and editing.
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Communicated by Sergio J. Ochatt.
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Meenakshi, Kumar, A., Kumar, V. et al. CAMTA transcription factor enhances salinity and drought tolerance in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 148, 319–330 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-021-02191-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-021-02191-3