Sie befinden Sich nicht im Netzwerk der Universität Paderborn. Der Zugriff auf elektronische Ressourcen ist gegebenenfalls nur via VPN oder Shibboleth (DFN-AAI) möglich. mehr Informationen...
AtHSP17.8 overexpression in transgenic lettuce gives rise to dehydration and salt stress resistance phenotypes through modulation of ABA-mediated signaling
Key message
Transgenic
Arabidopsis
and lettuce plants overexpressing
AtHSP17.8
showed ABA-hypersensitive but abiotic stress-resistant phenotypes. ABA treatment caused a dramatic induction of early ABA-responsive genes in
AtHSP17.8
-overexpressing transgenic lettuce.
Plant small heat shock proteins function as chaperones in protein folding. In addition, they are involved in responses to various abiotic stresses, such as dehydration, heat and high salinity in
Arabidopsis
. However, it remains elusive how they play a role in the abiotic stress responses at the molecular level. In this study, we provide evidence that
Arabidopsis
HSP17.8
(
AtHSP17.8
) positively regulates the abiotic stress responses by modulating abscisic acid (ABA) signaling in
Arabidopsis
, and also in lettuce, a heterologous plant when ectopically expressed. Overexpression of
AtHSP17.8
in both
Arabidopsis
and lettuce leads to hypersensitivity to ABA and enhanced resistance to dehydration and high salinity stresses. Moreover, early ABA-responsive genes,
ABI1
,
ABI5
,
NCED3
,
SNF4
and
AREB2
, were rapidly induced in
AtHSP17.8
-overexpressing transgenic
Arabidopsis
and lettuce. Based on these data, we propose that
AtHSP17.8
plays a crucial role in abiotic stress responses by positively modulating ABA-mediated signaling in both
Arabidopsis
and lettuce. Moreover, our results suggest that stress-tolerant lettuce can be engineered using the genetic and molecular resources of
Arabidopsis
.