Salicylic acid-related ribosomal protein CaSLP improves drought and Pst.DC3000 tolerance in pepper

Abstract

The ribosomal protein contains complex structures that belong to polypeptide glycoprotein family, which are involved in plant growth and responses to various stresses. In this study, we found that capsicum annuum 40S ribosomal protein SA-like (CaSLP) was extensively accumulated in the cell nucleus and cell membrane, and the expression level of CaSLP was up-regulated by Salicylic acid (SA) and drought treatment. Significantly fewer peppers plants could withstand drought stress after CaSLP gene knockout. The transient expression of CaSLP leads to drought tolerance in pepper, and Arabidopsis’s ability to withstand drought stress was greatly improved by overexpressing the CaSLP gene. Exogenous application of SA during spraying season enhanced drought tolerance. CaSLP-knockdown pepper plants demonstrated a decreased resistance of Pseudomonas syringae PV.tomato (Pst) DC3000 (Pst.DC3000), whereas ectopic expression of CaSLP increased the Pst.DC3000 stress resistance in Arabidopsis. Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) results showed that CaNAC035 physically interacts with CaSLP in the cell nucleus. CaNAC035 was identified as an upstream partner of the CaPR1 promoter and activated transcription. Collectively the findings demonstrated that CaSLP plays an essential role in the regulation of drought and Pst.DC3000 stress resistance. Graphical Abstract

AP2/ERF transcription factors enriched in the drought-response transcriptome of the Thar desert treeProsopis cinerariashow higher copy number and greater DNA-binding affinity than orthologs in drought-sensitive species

“…Several ribosomal proteins constituting the protein synthesis machinery were identified as hub genes (Table S3). These proteins play a pivotal role in stress adaptation by participating in regulatory mechanisms, often targeting the antioxidation machinery (Saha et al 2017; Shiraku et al 2021; Zhang et al 2023). In addition, histone H3.2 and H4, and heat shock proteins also emerged as hub genes in the up-regulated gene network.…”

“…Another metabolic enzyme, glutathione S-transferase , was also highly induced, which reduces cellular damage by drought-induced ROS in rice by enhancing glutathione binding to electrophilic compounds (Li et al 2003). An ERF TF, ABR1-like , induced in P. cineraria , negatively regulates ABA responses (Pandey et al 2005) but improves drought tolerance by enabling soluble sugar accumulation from starch degradation (Zhang et al 2023). The A. thaliana ortholog of ERF053-like is induced early in drought, and its overexpression leads to drought tolerance (Cheng et al 2012, Hsieh et al 2013).…”

Overexpression of S30 Ribosomal Protein Leads to Transcriptional and Metabolic Changes That Affect Plant Development and Responses to Stress

“…Mounting evidence indicates that differences in RP expression can impact functions unrelated to ribosome assembly or protein synthesis. For example, mutations and differential expression in ribosomal genes have been found to play a role in regulating normal development and responding to environmental stresses [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. In an attempt to elucidate the mechanism leading to I3C and stress resistance in ICT1, and using a multi-pronged approach employing transcriptomics, metabolomics, phenomics, and physiological studies, we show that overexpression of S30 leads to specific transcriptional alterations, which lead to both changes in metabolites connected to biotic and oxidative stress tolerance and, surprisingly, to photomorphogenesis.…”