Identification of Candidate Genes Involved in the Salt Tolerance of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Based on a Yeast Functional Bioassay

Abstract

Although date palm is a relatively salt-tolerant plant, the molecular basis of this tolerance is complex and poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the genes involved in salinity tolerance using a basic yeast functional bioassay. To achieve this, a date palm cDNA library was overexpressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. The expression levels of selected genes that make yeast cells tolerant to salt were subsequently validated in the leaf and root tissues of date palm seedlings using a quantitative PCR method. About 6000 yeast transformant cells were replica printed and screened on a synthetic minimal medium containing 1.0 M of NaCl. The screening results showed the presence of 62 salt-tolerant transformant colonies. Sequence analysis of the recombinant yeast plasmids revealed the presence of a group of genes with potential salt-tolerance functions, such as aquaporins (PIP), serine/threonine protein kinases (STKs), ethylene-responsive transcription factor 1 (ERF1), and peroxidases (PRX). The expression pattern of the selected genes endorsed the hypothesis that these genes may be involved in salinity tolerance, as they showed a significant (p < 0.05) overexpression trend in both the leaf and root tissues in response to salinity. The genes identified in this project are suitable candidates for the further functional characterization of date palms.

Antioxidant Response to Salinity in Salt-Tolerant and Salt-Susceptible Cultivars of Date Palm

“…All these mechanisms involve gene expression alterations [14,15], epigenetic changes [16][17][18], and community changes in the microbes associated with the plants [19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

BvCOLD1: A novel aquaporin from sugar beet (Beta vulgarisL.) involved in boron homeostasis and abiotic stress

“…Heterologous gene expression of plant genes in yeast is a useful tool to identify rate limiting steps in stress responses (Mulet et al, ; Patankar, Al‐Harrasi, Al‐Yahyai, & Yaish, ; Serrano et al, ; Yu et al, ). We used a cDNA library from sugar beet leaves (Kanhonou et al, ) to screen for plant cDNAs able to improve yeast growth at 10°C.…”

“…In this report, we have identified a novel aquaporin from sugar beet using the yeast overexpression approach (Serrano et al, ) under cold stress. This approach has been used before to identify yeast genes under cold conditions (Vicent et al, ), and plant genes under drought or salt stress (Patankar et al, ; Yu et al, ), but to our knowledge, our study is the first description in which this approach has been successfully applied to identify plant genes able to confer cold resistance.…”

Biology, morphology and taxonomy of Lesser Date Moth, Batrachedra amydraula (Lepidoptera: Batrachedridae) under two different temperatures

“…P. dactylifera is oldest fruit [15], considered as major crop of Africa and Asia [16]. It grows well under arid and semi-arid climatic conditions than other fruit crops [17]. The cultivation of dates in Egypt having oldest history like; the history of Islam but Spain is the first country from which dates extended to the South Asia, Arabian Peninsula, Middle East, and North Africa [18].…”