Ectopic Expression of a Thellungiella salsuginea Aquaporin Gene, TsPIP1;1, Increased the Salt Tolerance of Rice

Abstract

Aquaporins play important regulatory roles in the transport of water and small molecules in plants. In this study, a Thellungiella salsuginea TsPIP1;1 aquaporin was transformed into Kitaake rice, and three transgenic lines were evaluated by profiling the changes of the physiological metabolism, osmotic potential, and differentially expressed genes under salt stress. The TsPIP1;1 protein contains six transmembrane domains and is localized in the cytoplasm membrane. Overexpression of the TsPIP1;1 gene not only increased the accumulation of prolines, soluble sugars and chlorophyll, but also lowered the osmotic potential and malondialdehyde content in rice under salt stress, and alleviated the amount of salt damage done to rice organs by regulating the distribution of Na/K ions, thereby promoting photosynthetic rates. Transcriptome sequencing confirmed that the differentially expressed genes that are up-regulated in rice positively respond to salt stimulus, the photosynthetic metabolic process, and the accumulation profiles of small molecules and Na/K ions. The co-expressed Rubisco and LHCA4 genes in rice were remarkably up-regulated under salt stress. This data suggests that overexpression of the TsPIP1;1 gene is involved in the regulation of water transport, the accumulation of Na/K ions, and the translocation of photosynthetic metabolites, thus conferring enhanced salt tolerance to rice.

Gene-Wide Analysis of Aquaporin Gene Family in Malus domestica and Heterologous Expression of the Gene MpPIP2;1 Confers Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Arabidposis thaliana

“…The products of the strawberry AQP-encoding genes FaPIP1;1 and FaNIP1;1 both appear to be involved in the transport of water into the fruit [10,11]. A number of authors have reported that plant AQPs respond to external stress, triggering physiological adjustments which act to maintain the plant’s hydration status [12,13,14,15,16].…”

Peer Review #1 of "Genome-wide characterization and expression analysis of aquaporins in salt cress (Eutrema salsugineum) (v0.1)"

“…In contrast, E. salsugineum, with a small genome, is quite tolerant to salt, drought and low temperature stresses, being considered to be a halophyte model plant for investigating the mechanism of plant resistance to stress (Zhu, 2001;Inan et al, 2004). The E. salsugineum AQPs like TsTIP1;2, TsMIP6 and TsPIP1;1 have been found to play an important role in plant response to abiotic stress (Wang et al, 2014;Li et al, 2018). The E. salsugineum genome was sequenced in 2012 and at the chromosome level and scaffold level, respectively (Wu et al, 2012;Yang et al, 2013), promoting the bioinformatics analysis of whole aquaporin family.…”

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“…Importantly, E. salsugineum has a small genome, and also tolerant to salt, drought and low temperature stress, thus it is considered to be a halophyte model plant for investigating the mechanism of plant resistance to stress (Zhu, 2001;Inan et al, 2004). The E. salsugineum AQPs like TsTIP1;2, TsMIP6 and TsPIP1;1 have been found to play an important role in plant response to abiotic stress (Wang et al, 2014;Sun et al, 2015;Li et al, 2018). Since the E. salsugineum genome was sequenced in and 2013 at the chromosome level and scaffold level respectively (Wu et al, 2012;Yang et al, 2013), promoting the bioinformatics analysis of whole aquaporin family.…”