Overexpression of CaTLP1, a putative transcription factor in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), promotes stress tolerance

• Published in: Plant molecular biology 2012-07, Vol.79 (4-5), p.479-493
• Main Authors: Wardhan, Vijay, Jahan, Kishwer, Gupta, Sonika, Chennareddy, Srinivasarao, Datta, Asis, Chakraborty, Subhra, Chakraborty, Niranjan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Abscisic acid; Abscisic Acid - pharmacology; Agricultural production; Base Sequence; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cicer - genetics; Cicer - growth & development; Cicer - metabolism; Cicer arietinum; Cloning, Molecular; Dehydration; Dehydration - genetics; Dehydration - metabolism; Development; DNA; DNA, Plant - genetics; Droughts; Gene Dosage; Gene expression; Gene Expression - drug effects; Genetic analysis; Legumes; Life Sciences; Multigene Family; Nicotiana - genetics; Nicotiana - growth & development; Nicotiana - metabolism; Nuclei; Osmotic Pressure; Osmotic stress; Oxidative Stress; Phylogeny; Plant biology; Plant growth; Plant Growth Regulators - pharmacology; Plant Pathology; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plant Sciences; Plants, Genetically Modified; Proteins; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Roots; Salinity; Salinity effects; Shoots; Stress, Physiological; Tobacco; Transcription activation; Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcriptional Activation; Transgenic plants
• ISSN: 0167-4412; 1573-5028
• DOI: 10.1007/s11103-012-9925-y

Dehydration is the most crucial environmental constraint on plant growth and development, and agricultural productivity. To understand the underlying mechanism of stress tolerance, and to identify proteins for improving such important trait, we screened the dehydration-responsive proteome of chickpea and identified a tubby-like protein, referred to as CaTLP1. The CaTLP1 was found to predominantly bind to double-stranded DNA but incapable of transcriptional activation. We investigated the gene structure and organization and demonstrated, for the first time, that CaTLP1 may be involved in osmotic stress response in plants. The transcripts are strongly expressed in vegetative tissues but weakly in reproductive tissues. CaTLP1 is upregulated by dehydration and high salinity, and by treatment with abscisic acid (ABA), suggesting that its stress-responsive function might be associated with ABA-dependent network. Overexpression of CaTLP1 in transgenic tobacco plants conferred dehydration, salinity and oxidative stress tolerance along with improved shoot and root architecture. Molecular genetic analysis showed differential expression of CaTLP1 under normal and stress condition, and its preferential expression in the nucleus might be associated with enhanced stress tolerance. Our work suggests important roles of CaTLP1 in stress response as well as in the regulation of plant development.