Comparison of full-length and conserved segments of wheat dehydrin DHN-5 overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana showed different responses to abiotic and biotic stress

Marwa Drira, Moez Hanin, Khaled Masmoudi, Faiçal Brini

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    18 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Dehydrins (DHNs) are among the most common proteins accumulated in plants under water-related stress. They typically contain at least three conserved sequences designated as the Y-, S- and K-segments. The present work aims to highlight the role of the K-segments in plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. For this purpose, transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heyhn. lines expressing distinct wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) DHN-5 truncated constructs with or without the K-segments were generated. Our results showed that unlike the derivative lacking a K-segment, constructs containing only one or two K-segments enhanced the tolerance of A. thaliana to diverse stresses and were similar to the full-length wheat DHN-5. Moreover, compared with the wild-type and the YS form, the transgenic plants overexpressing wheat DHN-5 with K-segments maintained higher superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxide dismutase enzymatic activity, and accumulated lower levels of H2O2 and malondialdehyde. In addition, we demonstrated that lines like A. thaliana overexpressing wheat DHN-5 showed increased resistance to fungal infections caused by Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria solani. Finally, the overexpression of the different forms of wheat DHN-5 led to the regulation of the expression of several genes involved in the jasmonic acid signalling pathway.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1048-1060
    Number of pages13
    JournalFunctional Plant Biology
    Volume43
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2016

    Keywords

    • K-segments
    • salt stress
    • transgenic plants
    • water stress.

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Agronomy and Crop Science
    • Plant Science

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