Overexpression of AT14A confers tolerance to drought stress-induced oxidative damage in suspension cultured cells of Arabidopsis thaliana

• Published in: Protoplasma 2015-07, Vol.252 (4), p.1111-1120
• Main Authors: Wang, Lin, He, Jie, Ding, Haidong, Liu, Hui, Lü, Bing, Liang, Jiansheng, Wang, L, He, J, Ding, H. D, Liu, H, Lü, B, Liang, J. S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: antioxidant activity; antioxidants; Arabidopsis - drug effects; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - metabolism; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Arabidopsis thaliana; ascorbate peroxidase; biomass production; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; cell viability; cell walls; cultured cells; data collection; drought tolerance; enzyme activity; gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - drug effects; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - genetics; hydrogen peroxide; Life Sciences; lipid peroxidation; Lipid Peroxidation - drug effects; Lipid Peroxidation - genetics; malondialdehyde; microarray technology; Original Article; peroxidase; Plant Sciences; Plants, Genetically Modified - drug effects; Plants, Genetically Modified - genetics; Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism; plasma membrane; polyethylene glycol; Polyethylene Glycols - pharmacology; reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; survival rate; water stress; Zoology
• ISSN: 0033-183X; 1615-6102
• DOI: 10.1007/s00709-014-0744-7

Drought stress can affect interaction between plant cell plasma membrane and cell wall. Arabidopsis AT14A, an integrin-like protein, mediates the cell wall-plasma membrane-cytoskeleton continuum (WMC continuum). To gain further insight into the function of AT14A, the role of AT14A in response to drought stress simulated by polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) in Arabidopsis suspension cultures was investigated. The expression of this gene was induced by PEG-6000 resulting from reverse transcription-PCR, which was further confirmed by the expression data from publically available microarray datasets. Compared to the wild-type cells, overexpression of AT14A (AT14A-OE) in Arabidopsis cultures exhibited a greater ability to adapt to water deficit, as evidenced by higher biomass accumulation and cell survival rate. Furthermore, AT14A-OE cells showed a higher tolerance to PEG-induced oxidative damage, as reflected by less H₂O₂ content, lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde (MDA) content), and ion leakage, which was further verified by maintaining high levels of activities of antioxidant defense enzymes such as ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase and soluble protein. Taken together, our results suggest that overexpression of AT14A improves drought stress tolerance and that AT14A is involved in suppressing oxidative damage under drought stress in part via regulation of antioxidant enzyme activities.