Overexpression of A Biotic Stress-Inducible Pvgstu Gene Activates Early Protective Responses in Tobacco under Combined Heat and Drought

Abstract

Drought and heat stresses are major factors limiting crop growth and productivity, and their effect is more devastating when occurring concurrently. Plant glutathione transferases (GSTs) are differentially expressed in response to different stimuli, conferring tolerance to a wide range of abiotic stresses. GSTs from drought-tolerant Phaseolus vulgaris var. “Plake Megalosperma Prespon” is expected to play an important role in the response mechanisms to combined and single heat and drought stresses. Herein, we examined wild-type N. tabacum plants (cv. Basmas Xanthi) and T1 transgenic lines overexpressing the stress-induced Pvgstu3–3 and Pvgstu2–2 genes. The overexpression of Pvgstu3–3 contributed to potential thermotolerance and greater plant performance under combined stress. Significant alterations in the primary metabolism were observed in the transgenic plants between combined stress and stress-free conditions. Stress-responsive differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and transcription factors (TFs) related to photosynthesis, signal transduction, starch and sucrose metabolism, osmotic adjustment and thermotolerance, were identified under combined stress. In contrast, induction of certain DEGs and TF families under stress-free conditions indicated that transgenic plants were in a primed state. The overexpression of the Pvgstu3–3 is playing a leading role in the production of signaling molecules, induction of specific metabolites and activation of the protective mechanisms for enhanced protection against combined abiotic stresses in tobacco.

Heat Stress-Mediated Constraints in Maize (Zea mays) Production: Challenges and Solutions

“…Maize ( Zea mays L.) seedlings exposed to heat stress displayed sudden degradation of glycan contents and upregulated fructose and mannose metabolism ( Lieu et al, 2021 ). The expression of genes involved in fructose, mannose, and sucrose biosynthesis was also upregulated in 21-day-old maize seedlings exposed to heat stress ( Stavridou et al, 2021 ).…”

Insights from a Multi-Omics Integration (MOI) Study in Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Response to Abiotic Stresses: Part Two—Drought

“…Within those classes, one can find several subclasses equally affected by drought and salinity stress. Several successful cases of resistance to abiotic stresses achieved by the overexpression of genes coding for oxidoreductases, transferases, or hydrolases enzymes are available in the scientific literature [ 28 , 29 , 30 ], showing that here also resides reliable targets to generate stress-tolerant crop plants.…”

CsGSTU8, a Glutathione S-Transferase From Camellia sinensis, Is Regulated by CsWRKY48 and Plays a Positive Role in Drought Tolerance

“…Recently, several classes of GSTs, including Tau GSTs, have received a great deal of attention in plants due to the assistance of these GSTs in regulating the metabolism of oxidized molecules under drought conditions (Liu et al, 2013b;Xu et al, 2016;Choudhury et al, 2017). The expression level of GSTs in plants was reported to be positively correlated with the rate of oxidized molecule scavenging and to contribute to drought stress tolerance in previous studies (Kumar et al, 2013;Stavridou et al, 2021). For example, transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing tomato LeGSTU2 show enhanced resistance to drought stress via increased antioxidative enzyme activities for scavenging excess ROS (Xu et al, 2015).…”