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Enhancement of low-temperature tolerance in transgenic tomato plants overexpressing Lefad7 through regulation of trienoic fatty acids

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Photosynthetica

Abstract

We studied how tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) chloroplast omega-3 fatty acid desaturase gene (Lefad7) overexpression enhanced low-temperature (LT) tolerance in transgenic tomato plants. In these plants, the content of linolenic acid (18:3) markedly increased and, correspondingly, the content of linoleic acid (18:2) decreased. Similar changes were found after 6 h under LT (4°C) treatment. Under LT stress, wild type (WT) tomato plants showed a much greater increase in relative electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents compared with transgenic plants. Transgenic plants exhibited higher activities of antioxidative enzymes and a lower content of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Transgenic plants maintained a relatively higher level of the net photosynthetic rate (P N) and chlorophyll (Chl) content than WT plants under LT stress. Taken together, we suggested that overexpression of Lefad7 enhanced LT tolerance by changing the composition of membrane lipids in tomato plants, with the increased content of trienoic fatty acids and reduced content of dienoic fatty acids that led to series of physiological alterations.

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Abbreviations

APX:

ascorbate peroxidase

AtFAD7 :

Arabidopsis thaliana omega-3 fatty acid desaturase

Chl:

chlorophyll

DAs:

dienoic fatty acids

DGDG:

digalactosyldiacylglycerol

FADs:

fatty acid desaturases

IUFA:

index of unsaturated fatty acid

Lefad7 :

Lycopersicon esculentum omega-3 fatty acid desaturase gene

LT:

low-temperature

MDA:

malondialdehyde

MGDG:

monogalactosyldiacylglycerol

PFD:

photon flux density

PG:

phosphatidylglycerol

P N :

net photosynthetic rate

PUFAs:

polyunsaturated fatty acids

ROS:

reactive oxygen species

SOD:

superoxide dismutase

SQDG:

ulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol

TAs:

trienoic fatty acids

WT:

wild type

16:1(3t):

trans-hexadecenoic acids

16:3:

hexadecatrienoic acids

18:1:

oleic acid

18:2:

linoleic acid

18:3:

linolenic acids

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 310036, P. R. China

    X. Y. Liu & Y. B. Teng

  2. College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, P. R. China

    B. Li & Q. W. Meng

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  1. X. Y. Liu
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  2. Y. B. Teng
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  3. B. Li
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  4. Q. W. Meng
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Correspondence to Q. W. Meng.

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Acknowledgements: This research was supported by a grant from the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 program) (No. 2009CB118505) and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Y3110327).

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Liu, X.Y., Teng, Y.B., Li, B. et al. Enhancement of low-temperature tolerance in transgenic tomato plants overexpressing Lefad7 through regulation of trienoic fatty acids. Photosynthetica 51, 238–244 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-013-0014-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-013-0014-5

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