Expression of SbGSTU (tau class glutathione S-transferase) gene isolated from Salicornia brachiata in tobacco for salt tolerance

Abstract

Tau class glutathione transferases (GSTU) genes are plant specific, induced by different abiotic stress, and important for protecting plants against oxidative damage. GST gene was isolated using 5' RACE from an extreme halophyte Salicornia brachiata, cloned, sequenced and its protein structure was predicted. Transcript profiling of SbGST gene expression was studied under different abiotic stress conditions and plant growth regulator treatments, viz. salt, cold, drought, ABA and salicylic acid, with time period point and concentration point. The expression of SbGST gene was up-regulated in all stress conditions, except SA treatment. Seed germination percentage, GST enzyme assay, fresh weight and other growth parameters (root length, shoot length and leaf area) were studied and results indicate that over-expression of SbGST gene in transgenic tobacco leads to enhanced seed germination and growth under salt stress. Transgenic lines were evaluated for their performance under salt stress and tobacco plants over-expressing SbGST showed higher seed germination and survival compared to wild type. These results confirm that expression of SbGST gene is up-regulated by different stresses and over-expression of tau class SbGST gene in transgenic tobacco plays a vital role in abiotic stress tolerance. SbGST gene expressed conspicuously under salt stress leading to enhance seed germination and better growth. Furthermore, GST is a potential candidate gene to be used in genetic engineering for enhancing abiotic stress tolerance.

Functional Divergence of the Glutathione S-Transferase Supergene Family in Physcomitrella patens Reveals Complex Patterns of Large Gene Family Evolution in Land Plants

“…These characteristics allow vascular plants to adapt well to land living. Tau GSTs play important roles in plant detoxification metabolism, stress tolerance, and light signaling (Loyall et al, 2000;Thom et al, 2002;Benekos et al, 2010;Jha et al, 2011). The origin and expansion of tau GSTs in vascular plants might be correlated with their broad adaptations to land living.…”

“…Genome-wide analysis of biochemical characteristics of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and poplar (Populus trichocarpa) tau and phi GSTs found that these two classes of GSTs have broad substrate specificities (Dixon et al, 2009;Lan et al, 2009), which may be related to the high tolerance to abiotic stresses, especially to a broad spectrum of xenobiotics. Overexpression of tau or phi GSTs increases tolerance to herbicides, salt, and UV stressors in transgenic plants (Karavangeli et al, 2005;Benekos et al, 2010;Jha et al, 2011), indicating a protective role against abiotic stress. Recently, Arabidopsis GSTF2 was found to selectively bind the indole-derived phytoalexin camalexin and the flavonol quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside, suggesting a role in regulating the binding and transport of defense-related compounds in plants (Dixon et al, 2011).…”

Non-targeted metabolomics and scavenging activity of reactive oxygen species reveal the potential of Salicornia brachiata as a functional food

“…Some species of Salicornia have shown important biological properties, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic and cytotoxic activities (Isca, Seca, Pinto, & Silva, 2014). Furthermore, Salicornia is being widely explored for abiotic stress-responsive genes and promoters to develop transgenic plants that can withstand adverse environmental conditions (Chaturvedi, Mishra, Tiwari, & Jha, 2012;Chaturvedi, Patel, Mishra, Tiwari, & Jha, 2014;Jha, Sharma, & Mishra, 2011;Singh, Mishra, & Jha, 2014a, 2014bUdawat, Mishra, & Jha, 2014). No information is available, so far, on the metabolomics of this important succulent halophytic plant.…”

Overexpression of the glutathione S-transferase gene from Pyrus pyrifolia fruit improves tolerance to abiotic stress in transgenic tobacco plants

“…The expression of GSTs can be induced by a range of abiotic and biotic stresses as well as xenobiotic compounds and phytohormones, such as drought, salt, cold, heavy metals, 1 chloro 2,4 dinitrobenzene (CDNB), cyhalotrin, juglone, auxin, ABA, salicylic acid (SA), H 2 O 2 , herbicides, pathogens, and elicitor [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Previous studies indicated that plant GSTs play important roles not only during normal develop ment but also in detoxification of cytotoxic endoge nous and xenobiotic compounds as well as in response to a wide variety of stress conditions.…”