Overexpression of wheat ferritin gene TaFER-5B enhances tolerance to heat stress and other abiotic stresses associated with the ROS scavenging

Abstract

BackgroundThe yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), an important crop, is adversely affected by heat stress in many regions of the world. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying thermotolerance are largely unknown.ResultsA novel ferritin gene, TaFER, was identified from our previous heat stress-responsive transcriptome analysis of a heat-tolerant wheat cultivar (TAM107). TaFER was mapped to chromosome 5B and named TaFER-5B. Expression pattern analysis revealed that TaFER-5B was induced by heat, polyethylene glycol (PEG), H2O2 and Fe-ethylenediaminedi(o-hydroxyphenylacetic) acid (Fe-EDDHA). To confirm the function of TaFER-5B in wheat, TaFER-5B was transformed into the wheat cultivar Jimai5265 (JM5265), and the transgenic plants exhibited enhanced thermotolerance. To examine whether the function of ferritin from mono- and dico-species is conserved, TaFER-5B was transformed into Arabidopsis, and overexpression of TaFER-5B functionally complemented the heat stress-sensitive phenotype of a ferritin-lacking mutant of Arabidopsis. Moreover, TaFER-5B is essential for protecting cells against heat stress associated with protecting cells against ROS. In addition, TaFER-5B overexpression also enhanced drought, oxidative and excess iron stress tolerance associated with the ROS scavenging. Finally, TaFER-5B transgenic Arabidopsis and wheat plants exhibited improved leaf iron content.ConclusionsOur results suggest that TaFER-5B plays an important role in enhancing tolerance to heat stress and other abiotic stresses associated with the ROS scavenging.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0958-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The involvement of wheat U‐box E3 ubiquitin ligase TaPUB1 in salt stress tolerance

“…Similar gene expression levels were also found in TaCu/Zn‐SOD (Figure I), TaFe‐SOD (Figure J) TaP5C (Figure L), TaCAT (Figure M), TaAPX (Figure O), and TaDHAR (Figure P); these are all antioxidant enzyme‐related genes (Feki et al 2014; Wang et al 2016b). But there was no remarkable change in the expression levels of TaFER‐5B (Figure G) (ROS accumulation‐related gene), TaSOD2 (Figure K) and TaPOD (Figure N) (antioxidant enzyme‐related genes) between transgenic and WT plants (Wang et al 2016a; Zang et al 2017; Li et al 2018). Thus, these results suggest that TaPUB1 increases salt stress tolerance by widely modulating the stress‐related transcriptional regulatory network.…”

“…The qPCR showed the different expression patterns of genes encoding antioxidant enzymes, TdMnSOD , TaCu/Zn‐SOD , TaFe‐SOD , TaP5C , TaCAT , TaAPX , and TaDHAR , in the transgenic wheat plants exposed to salt stress (Feki et al 2014; Kaouthar et al 2016; Wang et al 2016a; Wang et al 2016b; Zang et al 2017; Li, et al 2018). TaPUB1 enhanced the expressing level of these genes in TaPUB1‐OE plants (Figure ).…”

Salt‐stress induced proteomic changes of two contrasting alfalfa cultivars during germination stage

“…Ferritin‐2 is a vital ROS‐scavenging protein that protects the cell against oxidative damage . Overexpression of ferritin improved abiotic stress tolerance by enhancing ROS scavenging in wheat . The intrinsic activities of annexins include peroxidase activity .…”

“…39 Overexpression of ferritin improved abiotic stress tolerance by enhancing ROS scavenging in wheat. 40 The intrinsic activities of annexins include peroxidase activity. 41,42 Arabidopsiss seedlings overexpressing annexin 1 were more resistant to drought-induced oxidative stress.…”

A Single-Nucleotide Insertion in a Drug Transporter Gene Induces a Thermotolerance Phenotype in Gluconobacter frateurii by Increasing the NADPH/NADP + Ratio via Metabolic Change

“…Aerobic organisms generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) causing cell damage, which has been shown to increase when microbes are grown at a lethal high temperature (14,15) or after heat treatment in plants (16,17). ROS are generated in the respiratory chain, mainly by flavoproteins, especially NADH dehydrogenase, as demonstrated in many microbes, such as yeast (18), E. coli (19,20), and Corynebacterium glutamicum (21,22).…”