Enhanced tolerance of transgenic potato plants expressing both superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase in chloroplasts against oxidative stress and high temperature

• Published in: Plant cell reports 2006-12, Vol.25 (12), p.1380-1386
• Main Authors: Tang, Li, Kwon, Suk-Yoon, Kim, Sun-Hyung, Kim, Jin-Seog, Choi, Jung Sup, Cho, Kwang Yun, Sung, Chang K, Kwak, Sang-Soo, Lee, Haeng-Soon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - drug effects; Ascorbate Peroxidases; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Chloroplasts; Chloroplasts - enzymology; Chloroplasts - genetics; Environmental conditions; Environmental stress; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - drug effects; Genetic engineering; Genetic technics; High temperature; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Paraquat - pharmacology; Peroxidases - genetics; Peroxidases - metabolism; Plant Leaves - drug effects; Plants, Genetically Modified; Potatoes; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Solanum tuberosum; Solanum tuberosum - cytology; Solanum tuberosum - drug effects; Solanum tuberosum - genetics; Superoxide Dismutase - genetics; Superoxide Dismutase - metabolism; Temperature; Transgenic animals and transgenic plants; Transgenic plants
• ISSN: 0721-7714; 1432-203X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00299-006-0199-1

Oxidative stress is a major damaging factor for plants exposed to environmental stresses. In order to develop transgenic potato plants with enhanced tolerance to environmental stress, the genes of both Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase were expressed in chloroplasts under the control of an oxidative stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter (referred to as SSA plants). SSA plants showed enhanced tolerance to 250 μM methyl viologen, and visible damage in SSA plants was one-fourth that of non-transgenic (NT) plants that were almost destroyed. In addition, when SSA plants were treated with a high temperature of 42°C for 20 h, the photosynthetic activity of SSA plants decreased by only 6%, whereas that of NT plants decreased by 29%. These results suggest that the manipulation of the antioxidative mechanism of the chloroplasts may be applied in the development of industrial transgenic crop plants with increased tolerance to multiple environmental stresses.