Biologia plantarum 61:64-72, 2017 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-016-0692-5

Overexpression of wheat TaNCED gene in Arabidopsis enhances tolerance to drought stress and delays seed germination

S.-M. Tong1, H.-X. Xi1, K.-J. Ai1, H.-S Hou1,*
1 College of Life Sciences, Liaoning Normal University and Key Laboratory of Plant Biotechnology of Liaoning Province, Dalian, P.R. China

Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates various plant physiological processes, especially participates in the plant responses to harsh environments. The 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is a key enzyme in ABA biosynthesis pathway. Here, a TaNCED with an 1 887-bp open reading frame was cloned from wheat, which encodes a peptide of 628 amino acids. A chloroplast transit peptide sequence was found at the N-terminus of the TaNCED protein. Multiple sequence alignments indicate that the TaNCED protein shared high similarities with other NCEDs from different species. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis shows that expression of TaNCED was strongly up-regulated by treatments with ABA, polyethylene glycol, and drought stress, and it was down-regulated during germination of the wheat seeds. Ectopic overexpression of the TaNCED gene in Arabidopsis resulted in an increase of endogenous ABA and free proline content. A lower water loss rate and stomatal conductance of leaves were found in the transgenic plants in comparison with the wild type. Subsequently, the transgenic plants displayed an enhanced tolerance to drought stress but delayed seed germination. These data provide evidence that the TaNCED might play a primary role in regulation of ABA content during water stress and seed dormancy.

Keywords: abscisic acid; 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase; polyethylene glycol; Triticum aestivum
Subjects: TaNCED; drought tolerance; seed germination; gene overexpression; abscisic acid; 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase; polyethylene glycol; proline; stomatal conductance; chlorophyll fluorescence; transgenic plant; wheat
Species: Arabidopsis thaliana; Triticum aestivum

Received: May 22, 2015; Revised: May 31, 2016; Accepted: June 3, 2016; Published: January 1, 2017Show citation

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Tong, S.-M., Xi, H.-X., Ai, K.-J., & Hou, H.-S. (2017). Overexpression of wheat TaNCED gene in Arabidopsis enhances tolerance to drought stress and delays seed germination. Biologia plantarum, 61(1), 64-72. doi: 10.1007/s10535-016-0692-5.
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