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Unique WSPA protein from terrestrial macroscopic cyanobacteria can confer resistance to osmotic stress in transgenic plants

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Abstract

The terrestrial macroscopic cyanobacterium Nostoc commune exhibits remarkable resistance to desiccation stress. This species synthesizes abundant acidic water stress protein (WSPA) in cells upon desiccation and secretes it into the extracellular polysaccharide sheath upon rehydration. However, our knowledge about its cellular role in stress resistance is still rather limited. In this paper, we first revealed that WSPA also occurred in two other macroscopic cyanobacteria Nostoc flagelliforme and Nostoc sphaeroides, but it is more abundant in N. commune. The N. commune wspa1 gene was then heterologously expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana. Phenotypic observation found that WSPA1 conferred increased tolerance to osmotic stress in transgenic plants. The physiological indexes such as relative electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde, proline accumulation and the maximal quantum efficiency of Photosystem II, were also improved in transgenic plants upon osmotic stress, compared to wild types. In addition, GFP fluorescence analysis of eGFP::wspa1 transgenic plant showed that WSPA1 was localized in the cytoplasm. Therefore, the role of WSPA revealed by this study mainly represented its intracellular function. In general, our research suggested that WSPA may act as a stress protein and involve cellular osmotic stress resistance.

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Abbreviations

EPS:

Extracellular polysaccharides

Fv/Fm:

Maximal quantum efficiency of Photosystem II

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

REL:

Relative electrolyte leakage

WSPA:

Acidic water stress protein

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30800072 and 31170309). We also thank Dr. K. X. Zhang for help in GFP fluorescence detection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, People’s Republic of China

    Yufeng Ai, Yiwen Yang, Baosheng Qiu & Xiang Gao

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  1. Yufeng Ai
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  2. Yiwen Yang
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  3. Baosheng Qiu
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  4. Xiang Gao
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Correspondence to Baosheng Qiu or Xiang Gao.

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Ai, Y., Yang, Y., Qiu, B. et al. Unique WSPA protein from terrestrial macroscopic cyanobacteria can confer resistance to osmotic stress in transgenic plants. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 30, 2361–2369 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-014-1661-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-014-1661-9

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