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Drought tolerance and proteomics studies of transgenic wheat containing the maize C4 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) gene

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Abstract

Enhancing drought tolerance of crops has been a great challenge in crop improvement. Here, we report the maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) gene was able to confer drought tolerance and increase grain yield in transgenic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plants. The improved of drought tolerance was associated with higher levels of proline, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and higher water use efficiency. The transgenic wheat plants had also a more extensive root system as well as increased photosynthetic capacity during stress treatments. The increased grain yield of the transgenic wheat was contributed by improved biomass, larger spike and grain numbers, and heavier 1000-grain weight under drought-stress conditions. Under non-stressed conditions, there were no significant increases in these of the measured traits except for photosynthetic rate when compared with parental wheat. Proteomic research showed that the expression levels of some proteins, including chlorophyll A-B binding protein and pyruvate, phosphate dikinase, which are related to photosynthesis, PAP fibrillin, which is involved in cytoskeleton synthesis, S-adenosylmethionine synthetase, which catalyzes methionine synthesis, were induced in the transgenic wheat under drought stress. Additionally, the expression of glutamine synthetase, which is involved in ammonia assimilation, was induced by drought stress in the wheat. Our study shows that PEPC can improve both stress tolerance and grain yield in wheat, demonstrating the efficacy of PEPC in crop improvement.

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Acknowledgments

The China Agriculture Research System (no. CARS-3-1-9), the Genetically Modified Organisms Breeding Major Projects of China (no. 2011ZX08002-003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31371707), and the National Key Technology R & D Program (nos. 2011BAD07B00 and 2011BAD35B03) supported this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Na Qin

  2. Wheat Research Institute, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 450002, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

    Weigang Xu, Lin Hu, Yan Li, Huiwei Wang, Xueli Qi, Yuhui Fang & Xia Hua

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  1. Na Qin
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  2. Weigang Xu
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  3. Lin Hu
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  4. Yan Li
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  5. Huiwei Wang
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  6. Xueli Qi
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  7. Yuhui Fang
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  8. Xia Hua
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Correspondence to Weigang Xu.

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We declare that the submitted manuscript does not contain previously published material and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All authors listed have read the complete manuscript and have approved the submission of the paper. The manuscript is a truthful original work without fabrication, fraud, or plagiarism. All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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Handling Editor: Bhumi Nath Tripathi

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Fig. S1

The appearance of the transgenic plants and parental control “Zhoumai19” during non-stress and drought stress at flowering stage in the greenhouse. A Non-stress treatment. B Drought stress treatment. (GIF 543 kb)

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Qin, N., Xu, W., Hu, L. et al. Drought tolerance and proteomics studies of transgenic wheat containing the maize C4 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) gene. Protoplasma 253, 1503–1512 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-015-0906-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-015-0906-2

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