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Expression of a wheat MYB gene in transgenic tobacco enhances resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum, and to drought and salt stresses

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Abstract

MYB transcription factors play diverse roles in plant growth, developmental processes and stress responses. A full-length cDNA sequence of a MYB gene, namely TaPIMP1, was isolated from wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The TaPIMP1 transcript level was significantly up-regulated by inoculation with a fungal pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana and by drought treatment. TaPIMP1 encodes the MYB protein TaPIMP1 consisting of 323 amino acids. TaPIMP1 contains two MYB DNA binding domains (R2, R3), two putative nuclear localization sites and two putative transcription activation domains. TaPIMP1 is a new member of the R2R3-MYB transcription factor subfamily. Transient expression in onion epidermal cells of GFP fused with TaPIMP1 proved that subcellular localization of TaPIMP1 occurred in the nucleus. The TaPIMP1 gene was transferred into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) cultivar W38 by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. After screening through PCR and RT–PCR analyses, transgenic tobacco lines expressing TaPIMP1 were identified and evaluated for pathogen resistance, and drought and salt tolerance. Compared to untransformed tobacco host plants, TaPIMP1 expressing plants displayed significantly enhanced resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum and exhibited improved tolerances to drought and salt stresses. In these transgenic lines, the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were significantly increased relative to wild-type tobacco plants. The results suggested that the wheat R2R3-MYB transcription factor plays an important role in modulating responses to biotic and abiotic stresses.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to Dr. R McIntosh, University of Sydney, Australia, for revising the manuscript and Dr. Daowen Wang for providing the vector h16318 containing GFP gene. This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30871523), National Key scientific projects (grant no. 2008ZX08002-001 and grant no. 2009ZX08002-006B), and Core Research Budgets of the Non-profit Governmental Research Institutions (ICS, CAAS) (grant no. 201011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Hongxia Liu, Xianyao Zhou, Na Dong, Xin Liu & Zengyan Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an Sichuan, 625014, China

    Xianyao Zhou & Huaiyu Zhang

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  1. Hongxia Liu
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  2. Xianyao Zhou
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  3. Na Dong
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  4. Xin Liu
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  5. Huaiyu Zhang
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  6. Zengyan Zhang
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Correspondence to Zengyan Zhang.

Additional information

Hongxia Liu and Xianyao Zhou contributed equally to this work.

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Suppl. Fig. S1

Amino acid alignment of MYB proteins. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of TaPIMP1 with those of other MYB proteins using Clustal X (1.83) software. Protein names and GenBank accession numbers for the sequences used in this alignment are listed in the text. (DOC 4878 kb)

Suppl. Fig. S2

Salt stress analysis of TaPIMP1 in transgenic tobacco plants. WT and transformed plants were treated with 250 mM NaCl for 40 days; plants were watered at intervals of 10 days prior to assessment. (DOC 4878 kb)

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Liu, H., Zhou, X., Dong, N. et al. Expression of a wheat MYB gene in transgenic tobacco enhances resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum, and to drought and salt stresses. Funct Integr Genomics 11, 431–443 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-011-0228-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-011-0228-1

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