SUMMARYCalcium (Ca 2+ ) regulates several signalling pathways involved in growth, development and stress tolerance. Cellular Ca 2+ homeostasis is achieved by the combined action of channels, pumps and antiporters, but direct evidence for a role of Ca 2+ATPase pumps in stress tolerance is lacking. Here we report the characterization of a Ca 2+ATPase gene (OsACA6) from Oryza sativa, and elucidate its functions in stress tolerance. OsACA6 transcript levels are enhanced in response to salt, drought, abscisic acid and heat. In vivo localization identified plasma membranes as an integration site for the OsACA6-GFP fusion protein. Using transgenic tobacco lines, we demonstrate that over-expression of OsACA6 is triggered during salinity and drought stresses. The enhanced tolerance to these stresses was confirmed by changes in several physiological indices, including water loss rate, photosynthetic efficiency, cell membrane stability, germination, survival rate, malondialdehyde content, electrolyte leakage and increased proline accumulation. Furthermore, over-expressing lines also showed higher leaf chlorophyll and reduced accumulation of H 2 O 2 and Na + ions compared to the wildtype. Reduced accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was observed in transgenic lines. The increased proline accumulation and ROS scavenging enzyme activities in transgenic plants over-expressing OsACA6 efficiently modulate the ROS machinery and proline biosynthesis through an integrative mechanism. Transcriptional profiling of these plants revealed altered expression of genes encoding many transcription factors, stress-and disease-related proteins, as well as signalling components. These results suggest that Ca 2+ATPases have diverse roles as regulators of many stress signalling pathways, leading to plant growth, development and stress tolerance.

Food security is in danger under the continuous growing threat of various stresses including climate change and global warming, which ultimately leads to a reduction in crop yields. Calcium plays a very important role in many signal transduction pathways including stress signalling. Different extracellular stimuli trigger increases in cytosolic calcium, which is detrimental to plants. To cope with such stresses, plants need to develop efficient efflux mechanisms to maintain ionic homeostasis. The Ca(2+)-ATPases are members of the P-type ATPase superfamily, which perform many fundamental processes in organisms by actively transporting ions across cellular membranes. In recent years, many studies have revealed that, as well as efflux mechanisms, Ca(2+)-ATPases also play critical roles in sensing calcium fluctuations and relaying downstream signals by activating definitive targets, thus modulating corresponding metabolic pathways. As calcium-activated calmodulin (CaM) is reported to play vital roles in stress tolerance, the presence of a unique CaM-binding site in type IIB Ca(2+)-ATPases indicates their potential role in biotic as well as abiotic stress tolerance. The key roles of Ca(2+)-ATPases in transport systems and stress signalling in cellular homeostasis are addressed in this review. A complete understanding of plant defence mechanisms under stress will allow bioengineering of improved crop plants, which will be crucial for food security currently observed worldwide in the context of global climate changes. Overall, this article covers classification, evolution, structural aspects of Ca(2+)-ATPases, and their emerging roles in plant stress signalling.

BackgroundThe DEAD-box helicases are required mostly in all aspects of RNA and DNA metabolism and they play a significant role in various abiotic stresses, including salinity. The p68 is an important member of the DEAD-box proteins family and, in animal system, it is involved in RNA metabolism including pre-RNA processing and splicing. In plant system, it has not been well characterized. Here we report the cloning and characterization of p68 from pea (Pisum sativum) and its novel function in salinity stress tolerance in plant.ResultsThe pea p68 protein self-interacts and is localized in the cytosol as well as the surrounding of cell nucleus. The transcript of pea p68 is upregulated in response to high salinity stress in pea. Overexpression of p68 driven by constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus-35S promoter in tobacco transgenic plants confers enhanced tolerances to salinity stress by improving the growth, photosynthesis and antioxidant machinery. Under stress treatment, pea p68 overexpressing tobacco accumulated higher K+ and lower Na+ level than the wild-type plants. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation was remarkably regulated by the overexpression of pea p68 under salinity stress conditions, as shown from TBARS content, electrolyte leakage, hydrogen peroxide accumulation and 8-OHdG content and antioxidant enzyme activities.ConclusionsTo the best of our knowledge this is the first direct report, which provides the novel function of pea p68 helicase in salinity stress tolerance. The results suggest that p68 can also be exploited for engineering abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants of economic importance.

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An efficient method for in vitro micro propagation and genetic transformation of plants are crucial for both basic and applied research. Maize is one of the most important cereal crops around the world. Regeneration from immature embryo is hampered due to its unavailability round the year. On the contrary mature embryo especially tropical maize is recalcitrant toward tissue culture. Here we report a highly efficient regeneration (90%) system for maize by using 2 different approaches i.e., embryogenic and organogenic callus cultures. Seeds were germinated on MS medium supplemented with 5 mg/l 2,4-D and 3 mg/l BAP. Nodal regions of 2 wks old seedlings were longitudinally split upon isolation and subsequently placed on callus initiation medium. The maximum frequency of embryogenic callus formation (90%) was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/l 2,4-D and 1 mg/l BAP in the dark conditions. The compact granular organogenic callus formation (85% frequency) was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 2.5 mg/l 2,4-D and 1.5 mg/l BAP at light conditions. MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/l BAP, 1 mg/l Kinetin and 0.5 mg/l NAA promoted the highest frequency of shoot induction. The highest frequency of root formation was observed when shoots were grown on MS medium. The regenerated plants were successfully hardened in earthen pots after adequate acclimatization. The important advantage of this improved method is shortening of regeneration time by providing an efficient and rapid regeneration tool for obtaining more stable transformants from mature seeds of Indian tropical maize cultivar (HQPM-1).

The present study demonstrates the first direct evidence of the novel role of OsACA6 in providing Cd (2+) stress tolerance in transgenic tobacco by maintaining cellular ion homeostasis and modulating ROS-scavenging pathway. Cadmium, a non-essential toxic heavy metal, interferes with the plant growth and development. It reaches the leaves through xylem and may become part of the food chain, thus causing detrimental effects to human health. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop strategies for engineering plants for Cd(2+) tolerance and less accumulation. The members of P-type ATPases family transport metal ions including Cd(2+), and thus play important role an ion homeostasis. The present study elucidates the role of P-type 2B Ca(2+) ATPase (OsACA6) in Cd(2+) stress tolerance. The transcript levels of OsACA6 were up-regulated upon Cd(2+), Zn(2+) and Mn(2+) exposure. Transgenic tobacco expressing OsACA6 showed tolerance towards Cd(2+) stress as demonstrated by several physiological indices including root length, biomass, chlorophyll, malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide content. The roots of the transgenic lines accumulated more Cd(2+) as compared to shoot. Further, confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that Cd(2+) exposure altered Ca(2+) uptake in OsACA6 transgenic plants. OsACA6 expression in tobacco also protected the transgenic plants from oxidative stress by enhancing the activity of enzymatic (SOD, CAT, APX, GR) and non-enzymatic (GSH and AsA) antioxidant machinery. Transgenic lines also tolerated Zn(2+) and Mn(2+) stress; however, tolerance for these ions was not as significant as observed for Cd(2+) exposure. Thus, overexpression of OsACA6 confers Cd(2+) stress tolerance in transgenic lines by maintaining cellular ion homeostasis and modulating reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging pathway. The results of the present study will help to develop strategies for engineering Cd(2+) stress tolerance in economically important crop plants.

BackgroundPlasma membrane Ca2+ATPase is a transport protein in the plasma membrane of cells and helps in removal of calcium (Ca2+) from the cell, hence regulating Ca2+ level within cells. Though plant Ca2+ATPases have been shown to be involved in plant stress responses but their promoter regions have not been well studied.ResultsThe 1478 bp promoter sequence of rice plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase contains cis-acting elements responsive to stresses and plant hormones. To identify the functional region, serial deletions of the promoter were fused with the GUS sequence and four constructs were obtained. These were differentially activated under NaCl, PEG cold, methyl viologen, abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate treatments. We demonstrated that the rice plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase promoter is responsible for vascular-specific and multiple stress-inducible gene expression. Only full-length promoter showed specific GUS expression under stress conditions in floral parts. High GUS activity was observed in roots with all the promoter constructs. The −1478 to −886 bp flanking region responded well upon treatment with salt and drought. Only the full-length promoter presented cold-induced GUS expression in leaves, while in shoots slight expression was observed for −1210 and −886 bp flanking region. The −1210 bp deletion significantly responded to exogenous methyl viologen and abscisic acid induction. The −1210 and −886 bp flanking region resulted in increased GUS activity in leaves under methyl jasmonate treatments, whereas in shoots the −886 bp and −519 bp deletion gave higher expression. Salicylic acid failed to induce GUS activities in leaves for all the constructs.ConclusionsThe rice plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase promoter is a reproductive organ-specific as well as vascular-specific. This promoter contains drought, salt, cold, methyl viologen, abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate related cis-elements, which regulated gene expression. Overall, the tissue-specificity and inducible nature of this promoter could grant wide applicability in plant biotechnology.