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Stress-induced Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) gene confers tolerance to salt stress in transgenic sugarcane

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Abstract

High salinity interferes in sugarcane growth and development, affecting not only crop yield but also reducing sucrose concentration in culms. Sugarcane plants submitted to salt stress can accumulate compatible solutes, such as proline, which may counteract the effects of salt accumulation in the vacuole and scavenge reactive oxygen species. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response to salt stress of sugarcane plants transformed with the Vigna aconitifolia P5CS gene, which encodes ∆1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase, under the control of a stress-induced promoter AIPC (ABA-inducible promoter complex). For this, 4-month-old clonally multiplied sugarcane plants from two transformation events were irrigated every 2 days with 1/10 Hoagland’s solution supplemented with 100, 150 and 200 NaCl, progressively, during 28 days. Transgenic lines showed increased transgene expression in 3.75-fold when compared with the control plants after 9 days of irrigation with saline water, which can explain the higher proline concentration found in these plants. At the end of the experiment (day 28), the transgenic lines accumulated up to 25 % higher amounts of proline when compared with non-transformed control plants. Stress response in transgenic plants was also accompanied by a reduction of malondialdehyde (MDA) derived from cellular lipid peroxidation in leaves, lower Na+ accumulation in leaves and maintenance of photochemical efficiency of PSII. Thus, proline contributed to the protection of the photosynthetic apparatus and the prevention of oxidative damage in transgenic sugarcane under salt stress.

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Abbreviations

AIPC :

ABA-inducible promoter complex

EC:

Electrical conductivity

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

MPa:

Mega pascal

P5CS :

Δ1-Pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Celso J. Marur for technical help in physiological analysis. JTSG is thankful to Inter-university network development sugarcane industry—RIDESA for the scholarship and research funding. All authors also acknowledge FINEP for research funding. AAH and JTSG are recipients of a CAPES/Embrapa fellowship. LGEV acknowledge National Council for Scientific and Technological Development—CNPq for the research fellowship.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, Instituto Agronômico do Paraná (IAPAR), CP 481, Londrina, PR, CEP 86001-970, Brazil

    Julia Tufino Silva Guerzoni, Nathalia Geraldo Belintani, Andrea Akemi Hoshino, Douglas Silva Domingues & Luiz Gonzaga Esteves Vieira

  2. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), Londrina, PR, Brazil

    Rosangela Maria Pinto Moreira

  3. Graduation Program in Agronomy, Setor de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Julia Tufino Silva Guerzoni & João Carlos Bespalhok Filho

  4. Graduation Program in Agronomy, Universidade do Oeste Paulista (UNOESTE), Presidente Prudente, SP, Brazil

    Luiz Gonzaga Esteves Vieira

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  1. Julia Tufino Silva Guerzoni
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  2. Nathalia Geraldo Belintani
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  3. Rosangela Maria Pinto Moreira
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Correspondence to Julia Tufino Silva Guerzoni.

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Communicated by O. Ferrarese-Filho.

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Guerzoni, J.T.S., Belintani, N.G., Moreira, R.M.P. et al. Stress-induced Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) gene confers tolerance to salt stress in transgenic sugarcane. Acta Physiol Plant 36, 2309–2319 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-014-1579-8

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