Expression of Catalase (CAT) and Ascorbate Peroxidase (APX) in MuSI Transgenic Tobacco under Cadmium Stress

Abstract

The MuSI is known as a multiple stress resistant gene with several lines. A previous study using RT-PCR showed that the expression of MuSI gene in tobacco plant induced its tolerance to Cd stress. This study was conducted to examine the enhanced Cd tolerance of the MuSI transgenic tobacco plant through germination test and to understand the role of the involved antioxidant enzymes for the exhibited tolerance. Germination rate of MuSI transgenic tobacco was more than 10% higher than that of wild-type tobacco, and seedlings of MuSI transgenic tobacco grew up to 1.6 times larger and greener than seedlings of wild-type tobacco at 200 and 300 μM Cd. From the third to the fifth day, CAT activities at 100 and 200 μM Cd and APX activities at 100, 200 and 300 μM Cd of MuSI transgenic tobacco were up to two times higher than those of wild-type tobacco. MuSI gene is shown to enhance the activities of antioxidant enzymes resulting in higher tolerance to oxidative stress compared with the control plant.

Improvement of cadmium tolerance and accumulation of Phragmites spp. Tabarka by ethyl methane sulfonate mutagenesis

“…Hyperaccumulator plants have been preferred for phytoremediation in soil contaminated with HMs. However, such plants mostly have a low capacity of biomass production (Kim et al 2011a) that reduces efficiency for removal of HMs. To improve the phytoremediation efficiency, transgenic plants with enhanced tolerance to HMs have been recently introduced (e.g., Das et al 2016;Kim et al 2011b etc.…”