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Overexpression of α-Tubulin Gene of Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids), SoTUA, Enhances Tobacco Tolerance to Cold Stress

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Abstract

Low temperature stress affects the yield and quality of crops. To adapt to abiotic stress, plant tubulin families play a crucial role to increase cell cold stability. In the present study, our aim was to develop transgenic tobacco by using a cold-responsive SoTUA gene isolated from Saccharum spp. hybrid. Based on fluorescent microscope observation and TUA gene expression analysis in different tissues, TUA gene expression was found mainly in veins. Moreover, a significant increase of TUA transcripts and protein under cold stress was detected by quantificational real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot in the transgenic plants. Results of peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, and proline, soluble sugar and protein contents indicated oxidative damage is less than wild type (WT). Overexpression of SoTUA gene has improved the cold stress tolerance ability in tobacco.

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Funding

The present study was supported by the grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD1000500), Guangxi Special Fund for Scientific Base and Talent (GKAD17195100), Fund for Guangxi Innovation Teams of Modern Agriculture Technology (gjnytxgxcxtd-21-03), Fund of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Genetic Improvement (16-K-02-01).

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Author notes

  1. Jiao-Yun Chen and Bo Sun contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Qaisar Khan, Li-Tao Yang & Yong-Xiu Xing

  2. Sugarcane Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sugarcane Research Center, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Biotechnology and Genetic Improvement (Guangxi), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Genetic Improvement, Nanning, 530007, China

    Bao-Qing Zhang & Yang-Rui Li

  3. Agricultural College, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Jiao-Yun Chen

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Bo Sun

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  1. Jiao-Yun Chen
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Contributions

YRL and LTY conceived and designed the study; BS and LTY performed the experiments; JYC, KQ, BQZ, YXX and YRL wrote the manuscript; JYC and BS analyzed the data; YRL revised and finalized the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yong-Xiu Xing or Yang-Rui Li.

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Chen, JY., Sun, B., Khan, Q. et al. Overexpression of α-Tubulin Gene of Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids), SoTUA, Enhances Tobacco Tolerance to Cold Stress. Sugar Tech 24, 1680–1688 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-022-01118-2

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