GmGSTU23 Encoding a Tau Class Glutathione S-Transferase Protein Enhances the Salt Tolerance of Soybean (Glycine max L.)

Abstract

Salt stress has a detrimental impact on crop yield, quality, and profitability. The tau-like glutathione transferases (GSTs) represent a significant group of enzymes that play a crucial role in plant stress responses, including salt stress. In this study, we identified a tau-like glutathione transferase family gene from soybean named GmGSTU23. Expression pattern analysis revealed that GmGSTU23 was predominantly expressed in the roots and flowers and exhibited a concentration–time-specific pattern in response to salt stress. Transgenic lines were generated and subjected to phenotypic characterization under salt stress. The transgenic lines exhibited increased salt tolerance, root length, and fresh weight compared to the wild type. Antioxidant enzyme activity and malondialdehyde content were subsequently measured, and the data revealed no significant differences between the transgenic and wild-type plants in the absence of salt stress. However, under salt stress, the wild-type plants exhibited significantly lower activities of SOD, POD, and CAT than the three transgenic lines, whereas the activity of APX and the content of MDA showed the opposite trend. We identified changes in glutathione pools and associated enzyme activity to gain insights into the underlying mechanisms of the observed phenotypic differences. Notably, under salt stress, the transgenic Arabidopsis’s GST activity, GR activity, and GSH content were significantly higher than those of the wild type. In summary, our findings suggest that GmGSTU23 mediates the scavenging of reactive oxygen species and glutathione by enhancing the activity of glutathione transferase, thereby conferring enhanced tolerance to salt stress in plants.

A tau class glutathione S‐transferase in tea plant, CsGSTU45, facilitates tea plant susceptibility to Colletotrichum camelliae infection mediated by jasmonate signaling pathway

“…Plant glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are ubiquitous and multifunctional enzymes, which are induced by various abiotic and biotic stimuli (Cao et al, 2022;Gullner et al, 2018;Li et al, 2023). Some GSTs consist of the ROS-producing and -scavenging network genes which are essential for ROS homeostasis (Yang et al, 2016).…”

Comparative transcriptome analysis of gene responses of salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive rice cultivars to salt stress

“…In this study, 74 DEGs in the glutathione metabolic pathway were significantly enriched, and of these 36 DEGs were glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes. In soybeans, overexpression of GmGSTU23 was associated with significantly higher GST activity, GR activity and GSH content of transgenic plants relative to wild type plants under salt stress, indicating that enhanced glutathione transferase activity could mediate ROS clearance and glutathione content 57 . Here we found that LOC_Os06g12290 expression was significantly higher than that of other GST genes, reflecting its importance in responses to salt stress.…”

RNA-Seq-Based WGCNA and Association Analysis Reveal the Key Regulatory Module and Genes Responding to Salt Stress in Wheat Roots

“…The TaZFP reported in this study is a novel gene associated with RSIR-RV, and the other gene, TaGST , is related to RSIR-RtL and RSIR-RsA. Overexpressing GST in cotton or soybean improves their salt tolerance [ 42 , 43 , 44 ]. In addition, GST is involved in scavenging ROS induced by salt stress in cells [ 45 ].…”

“…In the salt-stress response in Arabidopsis , kinase proteins play a crucial role in ion transport and in signal transduction [ 46 , 47 ]. Some genes referred to transcription and translation, such as the 60S ribosomal protein L5 (RPL-5), ATP synthase subunit b (ATP5H), and RNA-binding protein (RBP), which are related to salt tolerance in rice or cotton [ 42 , 43 , 44 ], and some genes referred to the metabolic processes in response to salt stress [ 48 , 49 ], such as the aminotransferase-related protein gene and ketol-acid reductoisomerase NADP(+) (KARI). In addition, two ERF genes, TraesCS6A02G301900 and TraesCS6B02G331000 , were also induced.…”