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β-Amino-butyric acid protects Arabidopsis against low potassium stress

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Abstract

Potassium (K+) is an essential element for plant growth and development. Under low-K+ stress, Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants show K+-deficient symptoms, typically leaf chlorosis and subsequent inhibition of plant growth and development. The non-protein amino acid β-amino-butyric acid (BABA) has been shown to have roles in protecting Arabidopsis against various pathogens as well as drought, high salinity, and cadmium stresses; However, little is known about the role of BABA in protecting Arabidopsis against low-K+ stress. Here, we showed that BABA protects Arabidopsis against low-K+ stress by increasing K+ uptake under low-K+ condition. Leaf chlorosis of plants subjected to low-K+ stress was abolished by BABA pretreatment, as indicated by a lower reduction in chlorophyll content in BABA-treated plants than water-treated plants. Low-K+ stress-induced decreases in both lateral root length and the numbers of lateral roots were improved by BABA pretreatment. In addition, under low-K+ stress, a significantly higher K+ concentration was detected in BABA-pretreated plants than in water-treated plants, and the transcript levels of AtHAK5 and LKS1 genes involved in K+ uptake in BABA-treated plants were higher than those of water-treated plants. Taken together, our results suggest that BABA plays a role in enhancing low-K+ stress tolerance by increasing K+ uptake, at least in part, via modulation of AtHAK5 and LKS1 under low-K+ condition.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Xinliang Ma, Chen Tian, Weiwei Shi, and Yi Shen for their technical assistances. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 30570145 and 20777014) and Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (grant no. 070411001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, 193 Tunxi Road, 230009, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Shuqing Cao, Li Jiang, Huaibo Yuan, Hongyong Jian, Guang Ren, Xiaohui Bian, Jizhi Zou & Zhengyi Chen

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  1. Shuqing Cao
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  2. Li Jiang
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  3. Huaibo Yuan
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  4. Hongyong Jian
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  5. Guang Ren
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  6. Xiaohui Bian
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  7. Jizhi Zou
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  8. Zhengyi Chen
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Correspondence to Shuqing Cao.

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Communicated by W. Filek.

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Cao, S., Jiang, L., Yuan, H. et al. β-Amino-butyric acid protects Arabidopsis against low potassium stress. Acta Physiol Plant 30, 309–314 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-007-0122-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-007-0122-6

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