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Expression pattern and function of wheat mitogen-activated protein kinase (MPK) cascade genes under micronutrient-deprived conditions

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Abstract

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades function as conserved signaling modules and play critical roles in mediating plant growth and responses to abiotic stresses. In this study, expression patterns of the genes encoding wheat (Triticum aestivum) MPKKK, MPKK, and MPK proteins and the function of TaMPK4 in mediating plant response to deprived micronutrients were investigated. The wheat MPK cascade proteins harbor conserved motifs shared by their plant counterparts. Expression analysis indicated that TaMPKKK;A, TaMPKKK;3, TaMPKK6, TaMPK3, TaMPK4, TaMPK9, and TaMPK17 exhibited altered transcripts upon distinct micronutrient deprivations, indicating their potential roles in transducing signaling elicited by deprived micronutrients via transcriptional response. Functional analysis on TaMPK4, a MPK gene mediating response to deprived Zn, Mo, and B stresses, indicated its role in mediating plant tolerance to deprived micronutrients. Under Zn, Mo, and B stress treatments, tobacco seedlings overexpressing TaMPK4 exhibited improved phenotype, increased biomass, enhanced activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD), and lowered contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) relative to WT, while the TaMPK4 knockdown lines showed deteriorated seedling phenotype, decreased biomass, lowered activities of SOD, CAT, and POD, and increased MDA amount compared with WT. NtSOD2, NtCAT, and NtPOD9, the genes encoding SOD, CAT, and POD, respectively, exhibited modified transcripts in transgenic lines deprived by Zn, Mo, and B, with a pattern to be consistent with the antioxidant enzyme activities. These results indicate that the TaMPK4-mediated plant tolerance to Zn, Mo, and B stresses is associated with this gene function in improving reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis through transcriptionally regulating AE genes. Our results provide insights into expression patterns of the wheat MPK cascade genes under deprived micronutrient conditions and reveal the function of TaMPK4 in modulating plant responses to deprived Zn, Mo, and B stresses which are associated with cellular ROS homeostasis improvement.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31671686), Natural Science Foundation of Hebei (Grant No. C2015204048), and the National Transgenic Major Program (Grant No. 2011ZX08008).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. College of Agronomy, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, 071001, People’s Republic of China

      Tongren Yang & Kai Xiao

    2. College of Life Sciences, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, 071001, People’s Republic of China

      Sufei Yao, Tongren Yang & Wenjing Lu

    3. Shijiazhuang Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050041, People’s Republic of China

      Yanxia Wang

    4. Baoding Vocational and Technical College, Baoding, 071000, People’s Republic of China

      Fengxian Kou

    5. Key Laboratory of Crop Growth Regulation of Hebei Province, Baoding, 071001, People’s Republic of China

      Tongren Yang & Kai Xiao

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    1. Sufei Yao
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    Correspondence to Wenjing Lu or Kai Xiao.

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    Communicated by J. Huang.

    S. Yao and Y. Wang contributed equally to this work.

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    Yao, S., Wang, Y., Yang, T. et al. Expression pattern and function of wheat mitogen-activated protein kinase (MPK) cascade genes under micronutrient-deprived conditions. Acta Physiol Plant 39, 40 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-016-2332-2

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-016-2332-2

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