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Overexpression of the Cytokinin Oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX) from Medicago sativa Enhanced Salt Stress Tolerance of Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKXs) are involved in various physiological processes, including cytokinins (CKs) catabolism, root system architecture and response to abiotic stresses in plants. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is a widely cultivated forage which is frequently threatened by high salinity, and the potential role of CKXs in alleviating the salt stress in alfalfa lacked attention. In this study, we isolated a CKX gene from alfalfa, MsCKX (MK177192), and identified its biological functions by overexpressing it in Arabidopsis. MsCKX shares high sequence identity with CKX from other legume plants, especially Medicago truncatula (98%). MsCKX was clearly tissue-specific, and it was mainly expressed in roots. In addition, the expression of MsCKX increased under salt stress and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Overexpression of MsCKX gene increased the activity of CKX, which led to an enlarged root system in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Overexpression of MsCKX gene enhanced salt tolerance of transgenic plants by maintaining a higher K+/Na+ ratio, enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes to scavenge ROS and increasing the expression levels of stress-related genes (P5CS1, DREB2, ion transporters and H+ pumps). Taken together, these results shed light on the roles of MsCKX involved in salt tolerance and may have applications in salt-resistant breeding of alfalfa.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31572456 and 31772660), the China Agriculture Research System (No. CARS-34), and the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (No. 2018ZDXM-NY-089).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Shuxia Li, Yunru An, Jing Zhang, Yuman Cao, Yushi Liu, Tianming Hu & Peizhi Yang

  2. CPPCC of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 830018, China

    Shaya Hailati

  3. Shaanxi Grassland Work Station, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710016, China

    Jincai Geng

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  1. Shuxia Li
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  2. Yunru An
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  3. Shaya Hailati
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  4. Jing Zhang
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  5. Yuman Cao
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  6. Yushi Liu
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  7. Jincai Geng
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  8. Tianming Hu
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  9. Peizhi Yang
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Contributions

LS and HS designed the research. LS performed the research and wrote the manuscript; HS cloned the gene and analyzed the gene expression pattern; AY, ZJ and CY participated in Arabidopsis transformation and physiological assays; ZJ, LY and GJ participated in the data analysis; YP and HT proposed the ideas, designed the experiment, and edited the manuscript. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Tianming Hu or Peizhi Yang.

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Li, S., An, Y., Hailati, S. et al. Overexpression of the Cytokinin Oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX) from Medicago sativa Enhanced Salt Stress Tolerance of Arabidopsis. J. Plant Biol. 62, 374–386 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-019-0141-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-019-0141-z

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