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Overexpression of the ChVDE gene, encoding a violaxanthin de-epoxidase, improves tolerance to drought and salt stress in transgenic Arabidopsis

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Abstract

To investigate the protective mechanism of violaxanthin de-epoxidase (VDE) zeaxanthin in Cerasus humilis under drought and salt-stress conditions, we cloned the entire cDNA sequence of ChVDE from C. humilis and generated ChVDE-overexpression (OE) and ChVDE-complementation (CE) Arabidopsis plants. The open reading frame of ChVDE contained 1,446 bp nucleotides and encoded 481 amino acids. The ChVDE showed the highest similarity with those of Camellia sinensis and Citrus sinensis. Subcellular localization analysis showed that ChVDE was located in the chloroplasts. OE plants showed stronger root growth and higher levels of total chlorophyll as compared to WT and VDE mutant (npq1-2) plants. Moreover, the relative de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle pigments (A + Z)/(V + A+Z) was higher in OE plants than in the controls. OE plants had enhanced photosynthetic rates, respiration rates, and transpiration rates compared with the WT or npq1-2 plants after drought or salt treatment. Collectively, our results demonstrate that ChVDE plays a positive role in both drought and salt tolerance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2572018CG02), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170569) and the Innovation Project of State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding (Northeast Forestry University).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding (Northeast Forestry University), Harbin, 150040, People’s Republic of China

    Xing Shun Song

  2. Department of Genetics, College of Life Science, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, People’s Republic of China

    Li Na Sun, Fang Wang, Jie Wan Wang, Li Jiao Sun, Wen Rui Gao & Xing Shun Song

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  1. Li Na Sun
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  2. Fang Wang
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  3. Jie Wan Wang
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Correspondence to Xing Shun Song.

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Sun, L.N., Wang, F., Wang, J.W. et al. Overexpression of the ChVDE gene, encoding a violaxanthin de-epoxidase, improves tolerance to drought and salt stress in transgenic Arabidopsis. 3 Biotech 9, 197 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-019-1732-6

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