G-Protein β-Subunit Gene TaGB1-B Enhances Drought and Salt Resistance in Wheat

Abstract

In the hexaploid wheat genome, there are three Gα genes, three Gβ and twelve Gγ genes, but the function of Gβ in wheat has not been explored. In this study, we obtained the overexpression of TaGB1 Arabidopsis plants through inflorescence infection, and the overexpression of wheat lines was obtained by gene bombardment. The results showed that under drought and NaCl treatment, the survival rate of Arabidopsis seedlings’ overexpression of TaGB1-B was higher than that of the wild type, while the survival rate of the related mutant agb1-2 was lower than that of the wild type. The survival rate of wheat seedlings with TaGB1-B overexpression was higher than that of the control. In addition, under drought and salt stress, the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and proline (Pro) in the wheat overexpression of TaGB1-B were higher than that of the control, and the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) was lower than that of the control. This indicates that TaGB1-B could improve the drought resistance and salt tolerance of Arabidopsis and wheat by scavenging active oxygen. Overall, this work provides a theoretical basis for wheat G-protein β-subunits in a further study, and new genetic resources for the cultivation of drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant wheat varieties.

Genetic Basis of Grain Size and Weight in Rice, Wheat, and Barley

“…Wheat has a single gene for the Gα and Gβ subunits, and four genes for the Gγ subunits. Each gene has three homeologous copies on the A, B, and D genomes [35,36]. Although the effect of Gα and Gβ proteins on grain yield has not yet been determined in wheat, it should be expected that both subunits have a homologous function to their rice counterparts due to great sequence similarity.…”