Overexpression of a partial fragment of the salt-responsive gene OsNUC1 enhances salt adaptation in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa L.) during salt stress

• Published in: Plant science (Limerick) 2013-12, Vol.213, p.67-78
• Main Authors: Sripinyowanich, Siriporn, Chamnanmanoontham, Nontalee, Udomchalothorn, Thanikarn, Maneeprasopsuk, Somporn, Santawee, Panudda, Buaboocha, Teerapong, Qu, Li-Jia, Gu, Hongya, Chadchawan, Supachitra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Arabidopsis - cytology; Arabidopsis - drug effects; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - physiology; Arabidopsis thaliana; Biological Transport; Computational Biology; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes, Reporter; Glycine–arginine-rich repeat; Hydrogen Peroxide - analysis; Hydrogen Peroxide - metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; Mutation; Nucleolin; Oryza - drug effects; Oryza - genetics; Oryza - growth & development; Oryza - physiology; Oryza sativa; Phosphoproteins - genetics; Phosphoproteins - metabolism; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plants, Genetically Modified; Recombinant Proteins; Rice; RNA recognition motif; RNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; RNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Salt stress resistance; Salt Tolerance; Salts - pharmacology; Seedlings - cytology; Seedlings - drug effects; Seedlings - genetics; Seedlings - physiology; Sequence Alignment; Stress, Physiological
• ISSN: 0168-9452; 1873-2259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2013.08.013

•Two forms of Nucleolin1 gene in rice (OsNUC1) were found.•The shorter OsNUC1 transcript (OsNUC1-S) encodes the protein with RRM and GAR domains.•OsNUC1-S over-expression decreased oxidative stress after salt stress treatment.•OsNUC1-S expression in Arabidopsis increased salt resistant gene expression, AtSOS1 and AtP5CS1.•The over-expression of OsNUC1-S can enhance salt resistance in Arabidopsis and rice. The rice (Oryza sativa L.) nucleolin gene, OsNUC1, transcripts were expressed in rice leaves, flowers, seeds and roots but differentially expressed within and between two pairs of salt-sensitive and salt-resistant rice lines when subjected to salt stress. Salt-resistant lines exhibited higher OsNUC1 transcript expression levels than salt-sensitive lines during 0.5% (w/v) NaCl salt stress for 6d. Two sizes of OsNUC1 full-length cDNA were found in the rice genome database and northern blot analysis confirmed their existence in rice tissues. The longer transcript (OsNUC1-L) putatively encodes for a protein with a serine rich N-terminal, RNA recognition motifs in the central domain and a glycine- and arginine-rich repeat in the C-terminal domain, while the shorter one (OsNUC1-S) putatively encodes for the similar protein without the N-terminus. Without salt stress, OsNUC1-L expressing Arabidopsis thaliana Atnuc1-L1 plants displayed a substantial but incomplete revertant phenotype, whereas OsNUC1-S expression only induced a weak effect. However, under 0.5% (w/v) NaCl salt stress they displayed a higher relative growth rate, longer root length and a lower H2O2 level than the wild type plants, suggesting a higher salt resistance. Moreover, they displayed elevated AtSOS1 and AtP5CS1 transcript levels. We propose that OsNUC1-S plays an important role in salt resistance during salt stress, a new role for nucleolin in plants.