Biologia plantarum 62:479-488, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0770-y

Overexpression of transcription factor SlNAC35 enhances the chilling tolerance of transgenic tomato

G.-D. Wang1, Q. Liu1, X.-T. Shang1, C. Chen1, N. Xu1, J. Guan1,*, Q.-W. Meng2,*
1 School of Biological Science, Jining Medical University, Ri'zhao, P.R. China
2 College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, P.R. China

The NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factor family participates in responses to various kinds of environmental stimuli in plants. However, the roles of NAC protein in cold resistance, especially in the cold resistance of tomatoes, are not completely understood. This study examined the roles of a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) NAC transcription factor (SlNAC35) in resisting chilling using transgenic tomatoes. GUS staining and expression analysis revealed that SlNAC35 expression was induced at 4 °C, thereby suggesting its involvement in plant responses to chilling stress. Moreover, transgenic lines over-expressing SlNAC35 exhibited high chlorophyll content, fresh mass, and low accumulation of reactive oxygen species and membrane damage under chilling stress. These results indicated that SlNAC35 overexpression enhanced the chilling tolerance of transgenic tomatoes. High expressions of cold tolerance markers SlCOR518 and SlCOR413IM1 were observed under chilling stress in transgenic lines. This observation suggested that SlNAC35 overexpression enhanced the chilling tolerance of transgenic lines by involving the c-repeat binding factor-cold stress response (CBF-COR) signaling pathway and by regulating SlCOR expression.

Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; catalase; chlorophyll; malondialdehyde; reactive oxygen species; Solanum lycopersicum; superoxid dismutase
Subjects: transcription factors; gene expression; chilling tolerance; transgenic plants; catalase; superoxide dismutase; ROS; tomato

Received: July 16, 2017; Revised: November 9, 2017; Accepted: November 16, 2017; Published: September 1, 2018Show citation

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Wang, G.-D., Liu, Q., Shang, X.-T., Chen, C., Xu, N., Guan, J., & Meng, Q.-W. (2018). Overexpression of transcription factor SlNAC35 enhances the chilling tolerance of transgenic tomato. Biologia plantarum, 62(3), 479-488. doi: 10.1007/s10535-018-0770-y.
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