Overexpression of EiKCS confers paraquat-tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) by promoting polyamine pathway

Abstract

Paraquat is an important bipyridine herbicide by acting on the photosynthetic system of the plants and generating reactive oxygen species leading to cell death, whereas the mechanism of the paraquat resistance remains to be explored. In this study, a putative paraquat-resistant gene EiKCS from goosegrass (Eleusine indica L.) was isolated and overexpressed in a transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.). This transgenic rice (KCSox) was treated by exogenous spermidine and paraquat and then was analyzed by qualitative and quantitative proteomics. Overexpressing of EiKCS enhanced paraquat tolerance in KCSox by the accumulation of endogenous polyamines whose dominant presences of polyamines benzoylation derivatizations in rice were C18H20N2O2, C28H31N3O3, and C38H42N4O4. The mechanism underlying the improving tolerance enhanced antioxidant capacity of ROS systems and light-harvesting in photosynthesis in KCSox rice leaves to reducing paraquat toxicity. The protein β-Ketoacyl-CoA Synthase (EiKCS) encoded by the EiKCS gene promoted the synthesis and metabolism of proteins of the polyamine pathway. Three cofactors CERs were identified and positively correlated with the function of EiKCS on very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) biosynthesis via promoting the polyamine pathway and inhibiting the links with the TCA pathway and fatty acid pathway to responding to the paraquat tolerance in the KCSox rice, which also caused the prolongation of the overproduction of spermine and a transient increase of intracellular malondialdehyde (MDA). These results expanded the polyamines pathway manipulated in cereals using genetic engineering to clarify the mechanism of paraquat-tolerance.One Sentence SummaryA putative paraquat-resistant EiKCS gene from the goosegrass overexpressing in the rice resulted in the accumulation of polyamines, especially the spermine, and promoted the proteins in polyamine pathways by its EiKCS protein under paraquat stress.