Mengcheng Wang

A Proteomic Study of the Response to Salinity and Drought Stress in an Introgression Strain of Bread Wheat

The effect of drought and salinity stress on the seedlings of the somatic hybrid wheat cv. Shanrong No. 3 (SR3) and its parent bread wheat cv. Jinan 177 (JN177) was investigated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Of a set of 93 (root) and 65 (leaf) differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), 34 (root) and six (leaf) DEPs were cultivar-specific. The remaining DEPs were salinity/drought stress-responsive but not cultivar-specific. Many of the DEPs were expressed under both drought and salinity stresses. The amounts of stress-responsive DEPs between SR3 and JN177 were almost equivalent, whereas only some of these DEPs were shared by the two cultivars. Overall, the number of salinity-responsive DEPs was greater than the number of drought-responsive DEPs. And most of the drought-responsive DEPs also responded to salinity. There are both similarities and differences in the responses of wheat to salinity and drought. A parallel transcriptomics analysis showed that the correlation between transcriptional and translational patterns of DEPs was poor. The enhanced drought/salinity tolerance of SR3 appears to be governed by a superior capacity for osmotic and ionic homeostasis, a more efficient removal of toxic by-products, and ultimately a better potential for growth recovery.

Proteomic analysis on a high salt tolerance introgression strain of Triticum aestivum/Thinopyrum ponticum

Soil salinity is a major abiotic constraint to agricultural productivity. We successfully bred a new common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) introgression variety (Shanrong No. 3) with high salt‐tolerance via asymmetric somatic hybridization between common wheat cultivar (Jinan 177) and UV‐irradiated Agropyron elongatum (Thinopyrum ponticum Podp). We report here a comparative proteomic analysis to investigate variety‐specific and salt‐responsive proteins between seedling‐roots of Shanrong No. 3 and Jinan 177. In total, 114 spots reproducibly presented differential expression patterns on 2‐DE maps. Of them, 34 were variety‐specific and 49 were salt‐responsive. We identified 110 spots by MALDI‐TOF MS and partially confirmed by MALDI‐TOF‐TOF MS, and functionally classified them into signal transduction, transcription and translation, transporting, chaperones, proteolysis and detoxification, etc. Meanwhile, we also found the alteration of protein expression of Shanrong No. 3 through inhibition of old proteins and production of novel ones, change in abundance and sensitivity of some nonsalt‐responsive and salt‐responsive proteins, as well as PTMs. Furthermore, comparison between proteome and transcripteome using cDNA microarray showed that there were only 20 proteins with abundances correlative to signal densities of corresponding EST probes. This study gives us a global insight into proteomic difference between Shanrong No. 3 and Jinan 177 in constitute and to salt‐response.

TaCHP: A Wheat Zinc Finger Protein Gene Down-Regulated by Abscisic Acid and Salinity Stress Plays a Positive Role in Stress Tolerance

The plant response to abiotic stresses involves both abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and ABA-independent signaling pathways. Here we describe TaCHP, a CHP-rich (for cysteine, histidine, and proline rich) zinc finger protein family gene extracted from bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), is differentially expressed during abiotic stress between the salinity-sensitive cultivar Jinan 177 and its tolerant somatic hybrid introgression cultivar Shanrong No.3. TaCHP expressed in the roots of seedlings at the three-leaf stage, and the transcript localized within the cells of the root tip cortex and meristem. TaCHP transcript abundance was higher in Shanrong No.3 than in Jinan 177, but was reduced by the imposition of salinity or drought stress, as well as by the exogenous supply of ABA. When JN17, a salinity hypersensitive wheat cultivar, was engineered to overexpress TaCHP, its performance in the face of salinity stress was improved, and the ectopic expression of TaCHP in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) also improved the ability of salt tolerance. The expression level of a number of stress reporter genes (AtCBF3, AtDREB2A, AtABI2, and AtABI1) was raised in the transgenic lines in the presence of salinity stress, while that of AtMYB15, AtABA2, and AtAAO3 was reduced in its absence. The presence in the upstream region of the TaCHP open reading frame of the cis-elements ABRE, MYBRS, and MYCRS suggests that it is a component of the ABA-dependent and -independent signaling pathways involved in the plant response to abiotic stress. We suggest that TaCHP enhances stress tolerance via the promotion of CBF3 and DREB2A expression.

A Wheat Allene Oxide Cyclase Gene Enhances Salinity Tolerance via Jasmonate Signaling

A jasmonic acid biosynthesis enzyme enhances wheat salinity tolerance. One of the two branches of the α-linolenic acid metabolism pathway is catalyzed by 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid reductase I, and the other is involved in jasmonic acid (JA) synthesis. The former is known to be active in the response to salinity tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum), but the participation of the latter in this response has not been established as yet. Here, the salinity-responsive bread wheat gene TaAOC1, which encodes an allene oxide cyclase involved in the α-linolenic acid metabolism pathway, was constitutively expressed in both bread wheat and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). In both species, transgenic lines exhibited an enhanced level of tolerance to salinity. The transgenic plants accumulated a higher content of JA and developed shorter roots. Both the shortened roots and the salinity tolerance were abolished in a background lacking a functional AtMYC2, a key component of the JA and abscisic acid signaling pathway, but were still expressed in a background deficient with respect to abscisic acid synthesis. We provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, suggesting that JA is also involved in the plant salinity response and that the α-linolenic acid metabolism pathway has a regulatory role over this response.

Wheat Oxophytodienoate Reductase Gene TaOPR1 Confers Salinity Tolerance via Enhancement of Abscisic Acid Signaling and Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging

Wheat oxophytodienoate reductase gene TaOPR1 enhances salinity tolerance by promoting an abscisic acid-dependent stress response pathway. The 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid reductases (OPRs) are classified into the two subgroups OPRI and OPRII. The latter proteins participate in jasmonic acid synthesis, while the function of the former ones is as yet unclear. We describe here the characterization of the OPRI gene TaOPR1, isolated from the salinity-tolerant bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivar SR3. Salinity stress induced a higher level of TaOPR1 expression in the seedling roots of cv SR3 than in its parental cultivar, JN177. This induction was abolished when abscisic acid (ABA) synthesis was inhibited. The overexpression of TaOPR1 in wheat significantly enhanced the level of salinity tolerance, while its heterologous expression in Arabidopsis alleviated root growth restriction in the presence of salinity and oxidants and raised the sensitivity to ABA. In Arabidopsis, TaOPR1 promoted ABA synthesis and the ABA-dependent stress-responsive pathway, partially rescued the sensitivity of the Arabidopsis aba2 mutant defective in ABA synthesis to salinity, and improved the activities of reactive oxygen species scavengers and the transcription of their encoding genes while reducing malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species levels. TaOPR1 did not interact with jasmonate synthesis or the jasmonate signaling pathway. Rather than serving purely as an antioxidant, we believe that TaOPR1 acts during episodes of abiotic stress response as a signaling compound associated with the regulation of the ABA-mediated signaling network.

A transcriptomic analysis reveals the nature of salinity tolerance of a wheat introgression line

The bread wheat cultivar Shanrong No.3 (SR3) is a salinity tolerant derivative of an asymmetric somatic hybrid between cultivar Jinan 177 (JN177) and tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum). To reveal some of the mechanisms underlying its elevated abiotic stress tolerance, both SR3 and JN177 were exposed to iso-osmotic NaCl and PEG stress, and the resulting gene expression was analysed using a customized microarray. Some genes associated with stress response proved to be more highly expressed in SR3 than in JN177 in non-stressed conditions. Its unsaturated fatty acid and flavonoid synthesis ability was also enhanced, and its pentose phosphate metabolism was more active than in JN177. These alterations in part accounted for the observed shift in the homeostasis related to reactive oxygen species (ROS). The specific down-regulation of certain ion transporters after a 0.5xa0h exposure to 340xa0mM NaCl demonstrated that Na+ uptake occurred rapidly, so that the early phase of salinity stress imposes more than simply an osmotic stress. We discussed the possible effect of the introgression of new genetic materials in wheat genome on stress tolerance.

Does diacylglycerol serve as a signaling molecule in plants

Diacylglycerol (DAG) is an important signaling phospholipid in animals, specifically binding to the C1 domain of proteins such as protein kinase C. In most plant species, however, DAG is present at low abundance, and no interacting proteins have yet been identified. As a result, it has been proposed that the signaling function of DAG has been discarded by plants during their evolution. In this mini-review, we summarize the accumulating experimental evidence which supports that notion that changes in DAG content in response to particular cues are a feature of plant cells. This behavior suggests that DAG does indeed act as a signaling molecule during plant development and in response to certain environmental stimuli.

A wheat superoxide dismutase gene TaSOD2 enhances salt resistance through modulating redox homeostasis by promoting NADPH oxidase activity

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is believed to enhance abiotic stress resistance by converting superoxide radical (O2−) to H2O2 to lower ROS level and maintain redox homeostasis. ROS level is controlled via biphasic machinery of ROS production and scavenging. However, whether the role of SOD in abiotic stress resistance is achieved through influencing the biophasic machinery is not well documented. Here, we identified a wheat copper-zinc (Cu/Zn) SOD gene, TaSOD2, who was responsive to NaCl and H2O2. TaSOD2 overexpression in wheat and Arabidopsis elevated SOD activities, and enhanced the resistance to salt and oxidative stress. TaSOD2 overexpression reduced H2O2 level but accelerated O2− accumulation. Further, it improved the activities of H2O2 metabolic enzymes, elevated the activity of O2− producer NADPH oxidase (NOX), and promoted the transcription of NOX encoding genes. The inhibition of NOX activity and the mutation of NOX encoding genes both abolished the salt resistance of TaSOD2 overexpression lines. These data indicate that Cu/Zn SOD enhances salt resistance, which is accomplished through modulating redox homeostasis via promoting NOX activity.

Synonymous codon usage bias is correlative to intron number and shows disequilibrium among exons in plants

BackgroundEvidence has been assembled to suggest synonymous codon usage bias (SCUB) has close relationship with intron. However, the relationship (if any) between SCUB and intron number as well as exon position is at present rather unclear.ResultsTo explore this relationship, the sequences of a set of genes containing between zero and nine introns was extracted from the published genome sequences of three algal species, one moss, one fern and six angiosperms (three monocotyledonous species and three dicotyledonous species). In the algal genomes, the frequency of synonymous codons of the form NNG/NNC (codons with G and C at the third position) was positively related to intron number, but that of NNA/NNT was inversely correlated; the opposite was the case in the land plant genomes. The frequency of NNC/NNG was higher and that of NNA/NNT lower in two terminal exons than in the interstitial exons in the land plant genes, but the rule showed to be opposite in the algal genes. SCUB patterns in the interstitial and two terminal exons mirror the different evolutionary relationships between these plant species, while the first exon shows the highest level of conservation is therefore concluded to be the one which experiences the heaviest selection pressure. The phenomenon of SCUB may also be related to DNA methylation induced conversion of CG to AT.ConclusionsThese data provide some evidence of linkage between SCUB, the evolution of introns and DNA methylation, which brings about a new perspective for understanding how genomic variation is created during plant evolution.

Ectopic Expression of a Wheat WRKY Transcription Factor Gene TaWRKY71-1 Results in Hyponastic Leaves in Arabidopsis thaliana

Leaf type is an important trait that closely associates with crop yield. WRKY transcription factors exert diverse regulatory effects in plants, but their roles in the determination of leaf type have not been reported so far. In this work, we isolated a WRKY transcription factor gene TaWRKY71-1 from a wheat introgression line SR3, which has larger leaves, superior growth capacity and higher yield than its parent common wheat JN177. TaWRKY71-1 specifically expressed in leaves, and produced more mRNA in SR3 than in JN177. TaWRKY71-1 localized in the nucleus and had no transcriptional activation activity. TaWRKY71-1 overexpression in Arabidopsis resulted in hyponastic rosette leaves, and the hyponastic strength was closely correlative with the transcription level of the transgene. The spongy mesophyll cells at abaxial side of leaves were drastically compacted by TaWRKY71-1 overexpression. In TaWRKY71-1 overexpression Arabidopsis, the expression of IAMT1 that encodes a methyltransferase converting free indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) to methyl-IAA ester (MeIAA) to alter auxin homeostatic level was induced, and the induction level was dependent on the abundance of TaWRKY71-1 transcripts. Besides, several TCP genes that had found to be restricted by IAMT1 had lower expression levels as well. Our results suggest that TaWRKY71-1 causes hyponastic leaves through altering auxin homeostatic level by promoting the conversion of IAA to MeIAA.