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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2015, Vol. 14 Issue (7): 1229-1241    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(14)60872-8
Crop Genetics · Breeding · Germplasm Resources Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Overexpression of a maize SNF-related protein kinase gene, ZmSnRK2.11, reduces salt and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis
 ZHANG Fan, CHEN Xun-ji, WANG Jian-hua, ZHENG Jun
1、College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, P.R.China
2、Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China
3、Institute of Nuclear Technology and Biotechnology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, P.R.China
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摘要  Sucrose non-fermenting-1 related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) is a unique family of protein kinases associated with abiotic stress signal transduction in plants. In this study, a maize SnRK2 gene ZmSnRK2.11 was cloned and characterized. The results showed that ZmSnRK2.11 is up-regulated by high-salinity and dehydration treatment, and it is expressed mainly in maize mature leaf. A transient expression assay using onion epidermal cells revealed that ZmSnRK2.11-GFP fusion proteins are localized to both the nucleus and cytoplasm. Overexpressing-ZmSnRK2.11 in Arabidopsis resulted in salt and drought sensitivity phenotypes that exhibited an increased rate of water loss, reduced relative water content, delayed stoma closure, accumulated less free proline content and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content relative to the phenotypes observed in wild-type (WT) control. Furthermore, overexpression of ZmSnRK2.11 up-regulated the expression of the genes ABI1 and ABI2 and decreased the expression of DREB2A and P5CS1. Taken together, our results suggest that ZmSnRK2.11 is a possible negative regulator involved in the salt and drought stress signal transduction pathways in plants.

Abstract  Sucrose non-fermenting-1 related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) is a unique family of protein kinases associated with abiotic stress signal transduction in plants. In this study, a maize SnRK2 gene ZmSnRK2.11 was cloned and characterized. The results showed that ZmSnRK2.11 is up-regulated by high-salinity and dehydration treatment, and it is expressed mainly in maize mature leaf. A transient expression assay using onion epidermal cells revealed that ZmSnRK2.11-GFP fusion proteins are localized to both the nucleus and cytoplasm. Overexpressing-ZmSnRK2.11 in Arabidopsis resulted in salt and drought sensitivity phenotypes that exhibited an increased rate of water loss, reduced relative water content, delayed stoma closure, accumulated less free proline content and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content relative to the phenotypes observed in wild-type (WT) control. Furthermore, overexpression of ZmSnRK2.11 up-regulated the expression of the genes ABI1 and ABI2 and decreased the expression of DREB2A and P5CS1. Taken together, our results suggest that ZmSnRK2.11 is a possible negative regulator involved in the salt and drought stress signal transduction pathways in plants.
Keywords:  maize       salt and drought stresses       ZmSnRK2.11       SnRK2  
Received: 15 July 2014   Accepted: 06 July 2015
Fund: 

This work was supported by the National High Technology R&D Program of China (2012AA10A306), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31330056) and the Xinjiang High-Tech Research Projects, China (201011109).

Corresponding Authors:  ZHENG Jun, Tel: +86-10-82105863, Mobile: +86-13683230661, E-mail: zhengjun02@ caas.cn     E-mail:  zhengjun02@caas.cn
About author:  ZHANG Fan, Tel: +86-10-82105866, E-mail: zhangfan_cau@126.com

Cite this article: 

ZHANG Fan, CHEN Xun-ji, WANG Jian-hua, ZHENG Jun. 2015. Overexpression of a maize SNF-related protein kinase gene, ZmSnRK2.11, reduces salt and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 14(7): 1229-1241.

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