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Isolation and characterization of two sorbitol transporter gene promoters in micropropagated apple plants (Malus × domestica) regulated by drought stress

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Abstract

The role of polyol transporters in stress tolerance in plants have been elucidated by many studies. Sorbitol transporter genes MdSOT3, MdSOT4 and MdSOT5 in apple plants, which are important for sorbitol loading and unloading, are regulated by drought stress. To further confirm the role of sorbitol transporters in stress tolerance, the constructs harboring MdSOT3 and MdSOT5 genes were introduced into wild type Arabidopsis plants (Col-0) and the Arabidopsis transformed with MdSOT3 or MdSOT5 performed higher drought stress tolerance compared to WT. In order to further understand how sorbitol transporters are involved in drought tolerance in apple plants, upstream regions of sorbitol transporter genes were isolated from apple plant source leaves by Anchored PCR from genomic DNA obtained, and then were used to drive expression of the GUS reporter in tobacco plants. The results showed that the longest fragments of MdSOT3 and MdSOT5 promoters induced the highest GUS activity under drought stress conditions. Additionally, fragments of these promoters that contain cis-acting elements known to be involved in stress response also induced GUS activity under drought stress. Taken together, our data suggest that increased MdSOT3 and MdSOT5 activity, through cis-acting elements in the promoters of these genes, play important roles in imparting tolerance to drought in micropropagated apple plants.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of The National Natural Science Foundation Projects (No. 31171938) and the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Inerest (No. 201003021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fruit Science, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Haidian, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Fang Li, Hengjiu Lei, Xiangjuan Zhao, Xinjie Shen, Ailing Liu & Tianhong Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Stress Physiology and Molecular Biology for Fruit Trees of Beijing, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Haidian, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Fang Li, Hengjiu Lei, Xiangjuan Zhao, Xinjie Shen, Ailing Liu & Tianhong Li

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  1. Fang Li
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  2. Hengjiu Lei
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Correspondence to Tianhong Li.

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Li, F., Lei, H., Zhao, X. et al. Isolation and characterization of two sorbitol transporter gene promoters in micropropagated apple plants (Malus × domestica) regulated by drought stress. Plant Growth Regul 68, 475–482 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-012-9737-8

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