Lilium Pumilum
with wide distribution is highly tolerant to salinity. The blue copper protein
LpCPC
(
Lilium pumilum Cucumber Peeling Cupredoxin
) gene was cloned from
Lilium pumilum
, which has the conserved regions of type I copper protein. Moreover, LpCPC has the closest relation to CPC
from Actinidia chinensis
using DNAMAN software and MEGA7 software. qRT-PCR indicated that
LpCPC
expression was higher in root and bulb of
Lilium pumilum
, and the expression of the
LpCPC
gene increased and reached the highest level at 12 h in bulbs under 20 mM NaHCO
3
. The transgenic yeast was more tolerant compared with the control under NaHCO
3
stress. Compared with the wild type, overexpressing plants indicated a relatively lower degree of wilting. In addition, the chlorophyll content, soluble phenol content, and lignin content of overexpressing lines were higher than that of wild-type, whereas the relative conductivity of overexpressing plants was significantly lower than that of wild-type plants. Expression of essential genes including
NHX1
and
SOS1
in salt stress response pathways are steadily higher in overexpression tobacco than that in wild-types. Transgenic lines had much higher levels of
CCR1
and
CAD
, which are involved in lignin production, compared with wild-type lines. The yeast two-hybrid technique was applied to screen probable interacting proteins interacting with LpCPC. Eight proteins interacted with LpCPC were screened, and five of which were demonstrated to be associated with plant salinity resistance. Overall, the role of gene LpCPC is mediating molecule responses in increasing saline-alkali stress resistance, indicating
that it is an essential gene to enhance salt tolerance in
Lilium pumilum
.