Abstract
Drought resistance is increased in plants by the absence of the hormone gibberellic acid (GA) or by a lack of GA sensitivity. We studied the effects of tissue-specific reduction in GA levels on drought tolerance, on recovery from drought stress, and on primary and secondary growth using transgenic tobacco plants expressing the GA-inactivating gene PtGA2ox 1 (GA 2-oxidase) specifically in leaves, stems, or roots. Localized reduction of bioactive GA1 levels was achieved by tissue-specific expression of the PtGA2ox 1 gene in leaves using the rbcs promoter (LD plants), in roots using the TobRB7 promoter (RD plants), and in stems using the LMX5 promoter (SD plants). In response to drought stress, all transgenic tobacco plants exhibited reduced primary and secondary growth and increased drought tolerance with a corresponding reduction in malondialdehyde levels, higher relative water content, increased proline and sugar content, and elevated peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase activities relative to wild-type plants. The highest level of drought tolerance and the most rapid recovery from stress was achieved by localized reduction of GA1 in the roots of the RD transgenic plants. In addition, although the total bioactive GA1 content in RD and LD plants was essentially identical, the heights of LD plants were significantly greater and drought tolerance was significantly less than in RD plants. It is possible that the site of gibberellin-related gene expression plays an important role in the balance between growth and drought tolerance.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achard P, Cheng H, De Grauwe L, Decat J, Schoutteten H, Moritz T, Van der Straeten D, Peng JR, Harberd NP (2006) Integration of plant responses to environmentally activated phytohormonal signals. Science 311:91–94
Achard P, Renou JP, Berthome R, Harberd NP, Genschik P (2008a) Plant DELLAs restrain growth and promote survival of adversity by reducing the levels of reactive oxygen species. Curr Biol 18:656–660
Achard P, Gong F, Cheminant S, Alioua M, Hedden P, Genschik P (2008b) The cold-inducible CBF1 factor-dependent signaling pathway modulates the accumulation of the growth-repressing DELLA proteins via its effect on gibberellin metabolism. Plant Cell 20:2117–2129
Banowetz GM, Dierksen KP, Azevedo MD, Stout R (2004) Microplate quantification of plant leaf superoxide dismutases. Anal Biochem 332:314–320
Barrs HD, Weatherley PE (1962) A re-examination of the relative turgidity technique for estimating water deficits in leaves. Aust J Biol Sci 15:413–428
Bates LS, Waldren RP, Teare ID (1973) Rapid determination of free proline for water-stress studies. Plant Soil 39:205–207
Biemelt S, Tschiersch H, Sonnewald U (2004) Impact of altered gibberellin metabolism on biomass accumulation, lignin biosynthesis, and photosynthesis in transgenic tobacco plants. Plant Physiol 135:254–265
Blokhina O, Virolainen E, Fagerstedt K (2003) Antioxidants, oxidative damage and oxygen deprivation stress: a review. Ann Bot 91:179–194
Bradford MM (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem 72:248–254
Chen THH, Murata N (2002) Enhancement of tolerance of abiotic stress by metabolic engineering of betaines and other compatible solutes. Curr Opin Plant Biol 5:250–257
Dayan J, Schwarzkopf M, Avni A, Aloni R (2010) Enhancing plant growth and fiber production by silencing GA 2-oxidase. Plant Biotechnol J 8:425–435
Dijkstra C, Adams E, Bhattacharya A, Page AF, Anthony P, Kourmpetli S, Power JB, Lowe KC, Thomas SG, Hedden P, Phillips AL, Davey MR (2008) Over-expression of a gibberellin 2-oxidase gene from Phaseolus coccineus L. enhances gibberellin inactivation and induces dwarfism in Solanum species. Plant Cell Rep 27:463–470
Eriksson ME, Israelsson M, Olsson O, Moritz T (2000) Increased gibberellin biosynthesis in transgenic trees promotes growth, biomass production and xylem fiber length. Nat Biotechnol 18:784–788
Foreman J, Demidchik V, Bothwell JH, Mylona P, Miedema H, Torres MA, Linstead P, Costa S, Brownlee C, Jones JD, Davies JM, Dolan L (2003) Reactive oxygen species produced by NADPH oxidase regulate plant cell growth. Nature 422:442–446
Gallego-Giraldo L, Ubeda-Tomas S, Gisbert C, Garcia-Martinez JL, Moritz T, Lopez-Diaz I (2008) Gibberellin homeostasis in tobacco is regulated by gibberellin metabolism genes with different gibberellin sensitivity. Plant Cell Physiol 49:679–690
Gapper C, Dolan L (2006) Control of plant development by reactive oxygen species. Plant Physiol 141:341–345
Girousse C, Bournoville R, Bonnemain JL (1996) Water deficit-induced changes in concentrations in proline and some other amino acids in the phloem sap of alfalfa. Plant Physiol 111:109–113
Gou J, Strauss SH, Tsai CJ, Fang K, Chen Y, Jiang X, Busov VB (2010) Gibberellins regulate lateral root formation in Populus through interactions with auxin and other hormones. Plant Cell 22:623–639
Heath RL, Packer L (1968) Photoperoxidation in isolated chloroplasts. I. Kinetics and stoichiometry of fatty acid peroxidation. Arch Biochem Biophys 125:189–198
Hedden P, Phillips AL (2000) Gibberellin metabolism: new insights revealed by the genes. Trends Plant Sci 5:523–530
Hong Z, Lakkineni K, Zhang Z, Verma DP (2000) Removal of feedback inhibition of delta(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase results in increased proline accumulation and protection of plants from osmotic stress. Plant Physiol 122:1129–1136
Huang J, Tang D, Shen Y, Qin B, Hong L, You A, Li M, Wang X, Yu H, Gu M, Cheng Z (2010a) Activation of gibberellin 2-oxidase 6 decreases active gibberellin levels and creates a dominant semi-dwarf phenotype in rice (Oryza sativa L.). J Genet Genomics 37:23–36
Huang X, Liu J, Chen X (2010b) Overexpression of PtrABF gene, a bZIP transcription factor isolated from Poncirus trifoliata, enhances dehydration and drought tolerance in tobacco via scavenging ROS and modulating expression of stress-responsive genes. BMC Plant Biol 10:230
Jefferson RA, Kavanagh TA, Bevan MW (1987) GUS fusions: beta-glucuronidase as a sensitive and versatile gene fusion marker in higher plants. EMBO J 6:3901–3907
Kempa S, Rozhon W, Samaj J, Erban A, Baluska F, Becker T, Haselmayer J, Schleiff E, Kopka J, Hirt H, Jonak C (2007) A plastid-localized glycogen synthase kinase 3 modulates stress tolerance and carbohydrate metabolism. Plant J 49:1076–1090
Lee DJ, Zeevaart J (2005) Molecular cloning of GA 2-oxidase3 from spinach and its ectopic expression in Nicotiana sylvestris. Plant Physiol 138:243–254
Li H (2000) Experimental principles and techniques of plant physiology and biochemistry. Higher Education Press, Beijing
Lin L, Liu YG, Xu X, Li B (2003) Efficient linking and transfer of multiple genes by a multigene assembly and transformation vector system. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:5962–5967
Lo SF, Yang SY, Chen KT, Hsing YI, Zeevaart JA, Chen LJ, Yu SM (2008) A novel class of gibberellin 2-oxidases control semidwarfism, tillering, and root development in rice. Plant Cell 20:2603–2618
Love J, Björklund S, Vahala J, Hertzberg M, Kangasjärvi J, Sundberg B (2009) Ethylene is an endogenous stimulator of cell division in the cambial meristem of Populus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:5984–5989
Luo H, Li H, Zhang X, Fu J (2011) Antioxidant responses and gene expression in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) under cadmium stress. Ecotoxicology 20:770–778
Maehly AC (1954) The assay of catalases and peroxidases. Methods Biochem Anal 1:357–424
Magome H, Yamaguchi S, Hanada A, Kamiya Y, Oda K (2004) Dwarf and delayed-flowering 1, a novel Arabidopsis mutant deficient in gibberellin biosynthesis because of overexpression of a putative AP2 transcription factor. Plant J 37:720–729
Magome H, Yamaguchi S, Hanada A, Kamiya Y, Oda K (2008) The DDF1 transcriptional activator upregulates expression of a gibberellin-deactivating gene, GA2ox7, under high-salinity stress in Arabidopsis. Plant J 56:613–626
Mauriat M, Moritz T (2009) Analyses of GA20ox- and GID1-over-expressing aspen suggest that gibberellins play two distinct roles in wood formation. Plant J 58:989–1003
Mauriat M, Sandberg LG, Moritz T (2011) Proper gibberellin localization in vascular tissue is required to control auxin-dependent leaf development and bud outgrowth in hybrid aspen. Plant J 67:805–816
Moore K, Roberts LJ (1998) Measurement of lipid peroxidation. Free Radic Res 28:659–671
Nir I, Moshelion M, Weiss D (2014) The Arabidopsis gibberellin methyl transferase 1 suppresses gibberellin activity, reduces whole-plant transpiration and promotes drought tolerance in transgenic tomato. Plant Cell Environ 37(1):113–123
Niu S, Li Z, Yuan H, Fang P, Chen X, Li W (2013) Proper gibberellin localization in vascular tissue is required to regulate adventitious root development in tobacco. J Exp Bot 64:3411–3424
Pimenta Lange MJ, Lange T (2006) Gibberellin biosynthesis and the regulation of plant development. Plant Biol 8:281–290
Sakamoto T, Kobayashi M, Itoh H, Tagiri A, Kayano T, Tanaka H, Iwahori S, Matsuoka M (2001) Expression of a gibberellin 2-oxidase gene around the shoot apex is related to phase transition in rice. Plant Physiol 125:1508–1516
Sakamoto T, Morinaka Y, Ishiyama K, Kobayashi M, Itoh H, Kayano T, Iwahori S, Matsuoka M, Tanaka H (2003) Genetic manipulation of gibberellin metabolism in transgenic rice. Nat Biotechnol 21:909–913
Schomburg FM, Bizzell CM, Lee DJ, Zeevaart JA, Amasino RM (2003) Overexpression of a novel class of gibberellin 2-oxidases decreases gibberellin levels and creates dwarf plants. Plant Cell 15:151–163
Skirycz A, Claeys H, De Bodt S, Oikawa A, Shinoda S, Andriankaja M, Maleux K, Eloy NB, Coppens F, Yoo S, Saito K, Inze D (2011) Pause-and-stop: the effects of osmotic stress on cell proliferation during early leaf development in arabidopsis and a role for ethylene signaling in cell cycle arrest. Plant Cell 23:1876–1888
Somasundaram R, Jaleel CA, Abraham SS, Azooz MM, Panneerselvam R (2009) Role of paclobutrazol and ABA in drought stress amelioration in Sesamum indicum L. Glob J Mol Sci 4:56–62
Tanaka-Ueguchi M, Itoh H, Oyama N, Koshioka M, Matsuoka M (1998) Over-expression of a tobacco homeobox gene, NTH15, decreases the expression of a gibberellin biosynthetic gene encoding GA 20-oxidase. Plant J 15:391–400
Tardieu F (2003) Virtual plants: modelling as a tool for the genomics of tolerance to water deficit. Trends Plant Sci 8:9–14
Thomas SG, Phillips AL, Hedden P (1999) Molecular cloning and functional expression of gibberellin 2-oxidases, multifunctional enzymes involved in gibberellin deactivation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:4698–4703
Ueguchi-Tanaka M, Nakajima M, Motoyuki A, Matsuoka M (2007) Gibberellin receptor and its role in gibberellin signaling in plants. Annu Rev Plant Biol 58:183–198
Vettakkorumakankav NN, Falk D, Saxena P, Fletcher RA (1999) A crucial role for gibberellins in stress protection of plants. Plant Cell Physiol 40:542–548
Wu LQ, Fan ZM, Guo L, Li YQ, Chen ZL, Qu LJ (2005) Over-expression of the bacterial nhaA gene in rice enhances salt and drought tolerance. Plant Sci 168:297–302
Xu K, Hong P, Luo L, Xia T (2009) Overexpression of AtNHX1, a vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter from Arabidopsis thaliana, in Petunia hybrida enhances salt and drought tolerance. J Plant Biol 52:453–461
Yamaguchi S (2008) Gibberellin metabolism and its regulation. Annu Rev Plant Biol 59:225–251
Yamamoto YT, Taylor CG, Acedo GN, Cheng CL, Conkling MA (1991) Characterization of cis-acting sequences regulating root-specific gene expression in tobacco. Plant Cell 3:371–382
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Shihui Niu (Beijing Forestry University) for providing cultured transgenic tobacco seedlings. This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31172255), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2013AA102607), and the Introduction of International Advanced Agricultural Technology Program of China (2011-4-50).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhong, T., Zhang, L., Sun, S. et al. Effect of localized reduction of gibberellins in different tobacco organs on drought stress tolerance and recovery. Plant Biotechnol Rep 8, 399–408 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-014-0330-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-014-0330-7