Overexpression of AtSZF2 from Arabidopsis Showed Enhanced Tolerance to Salt Stress in Soybean

Abstract

Plants have adapted to environmental challenges by expressing many plant genes in response to the stresses. Among those genes, CCCH zinc finger proteins are involved in abiotic and biotic stresses. Transgenic soybean plants overexpressing AtSZF2 were produced to investigate that its ectopic overexpression enhanced salt stress tolerance by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation using half-seed explants. Sixteen transgenic lines were chosen to analyze for T-DNA insertion and transcription levels, and most of them were confirmed as positive. In further analysis with Southern blot, stable transformation event and copy number were confirmed. Following high salinity stress on the detached leaf and whole plant of two transgenic lines (#4 and #6) revealed that the ectopic expression of AtSZF2 was correlated with stress tolerance in phenotype, ion leakage and chlorophyll content with statistical significance. In another test with 20% PEG treatment, similar tolerance of transgenic plants was observed with lower ion leakage and higher chlorophyll content, indicating that the damage of cell membrane was prevented in transgenic plants. Finally, expression of various abiotic stress-responding genes was detected by reverse transcriptase and quantitative real-time PCR analysis with the transgenic plants. It could be proposed that introduction of AtSZF2 resulted in the modulation of ABA/stress responsive gene expression in transgenic soybean plants and make them tolerant against salt stress. Considering soybean as a salt-sensitive crop and importance of salt stress tolerance in specific farming region, the introduction of AtSZF2 may provide an approach for crop improvement in soybean breeding.

Salicylic Acid-Regulated Antioxidant Mechanisms and Gene Expression Enhance Rosemary Performance under Saline Conditions

“…Melting curve analysis was applied to test the amplification specificity. Gene-specific primers of Radyukina et al ( 2011 ), Elansary et al ( 2017 ), and Kim et al ( 2017 ) were used for genes amplification. Actin (Radyukina et al, 2011 ) was used as a housekeeping gene, and the relative expression levels were determined using 2 −ΔΔCt method.…”

Serratia marcescens BM1 Enhances Cadmium Stress Tolerance and Phytoremediation Potential of Soybean Through Modulation of Osmolytes, Leaf Gas Exchange, Antioxidant Machinery, and Stress-Responsive Genes Expression

“…Reaction volume and PCR amplification conditions were adjusted as mentioned by El-Esawi et al [43]. Gene-specific primers of Sirhindi et al [68], Vaishnav et al [67], El-Esawi et al [69], and Kim et al [70] (Table S1) were used for genes amplification. A housekeeping gene, actin, was used.…”

Co‐expression of Arabidopsis AtAVP1 and AtNHX1 to Improve Salt Tolerance in Soybean

“…Enhanced osmotic adjustment, which helps maintain cellular osmotic balance, scavenge reactive oxygen species, and protect the antioxidation system, was achieved in soybean by overexpressing AtSZF2 (Kim et al, 2017) and Tbosm (Subramanyam et al, 2012). To produce yield in the field, the plants need to maintain their ability to emerge, grow, produce sufficient biomass, and seeds.…”

“…Recently, transgenic soybeans have been developed to express individual genes targeting different mechanisms of tolerance, including osmotic adjustment, radical species removal, Na + uptake and transport, and stress-signaling regulation. Enhanced osmotic adjustment, which helps maintain cellular osmotic balance, scavenge reactive oxygen species, and protect the antioxidation system, was achieved in soybean by overexpressing AtSZF2 (Kim et al, 2017) and Tbosm (Subramanyam et al, 2012). AtSZF2, a CCCH Zn-finger protein, maintained greater cell membrane stability of the transgenic plants under salt and osmotic stress using leaf floating and the electrolyte conductivity method (Kim et al, 2017).…”

“…Enhanced osmotic adjustment, which helps maintain cellular osmotic balance, scavenge reactive oxygen species, and protect the antioxidation system, was achieved in soybean by overexpressing AtSZF2 (Kim et al, 2017) and Tbosm (Subramanyam et al, 2012). AtSZF2, a CCCH Zn-finger protein, maintained greater cell membrane stability of the transgenic plants under salt and osmotic stress using leaf floating and the electrolyte conductivity method (Kim et al, 2017). Expression of tobacco osmotin (Tbosm) in soybean increased accumulation of proline and antioxidant enzymes and conferred short-term resistance to salinity stress.…”