Research Article

A Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase from Jatropha curcas enhances salt tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana

Published: March 20, 2015
Genet. Mol. Res. 14 (1) : 2086-2098 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4238/2015.March.20.19
Cite this Article:
Z.B. Liu, W.J. Zhang, X.D. Gong, Q. Zhang, L.R. Zhou (2015). A Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase from Jatropha curcas enhances salt tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana. Genet. Mol. Res. 14(1): 2086-2098. https://doi.org/10.4238/2015.March.20.19
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Abstract

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are involved in protecting plants against diverse biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present study, a novel Cu/Zn-SOD gene (JcCu/Zn-SOD) was cloned from Jatropha curcas L. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that JcCu/Zn-SOD is constitutively expressed in different tissues of J. curcas and induced under NaCl treatment. To characterize the function of this gene with respect to salt tolerance, the construct p35S:JcCu/Zn-SOD was developed and transformed into Arabidopsis using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Compared with wild-type, transgenic plants over-expressing JcCu/Zn-SOD showed enhanced tolerance to salt stress during germination, seedling establishment, and growth in terms of longer root, larger rosette area, and a larger number of leaves in addition to higher SOD activity levels under NaCl stress. In addition, over-expression of JcCu/Zn-SOD resulted in lower monodialdehyde content in transgenic Arabidopsis compared to wild-type plants under the same NaCl stress. Therefore, JcCu/Zn-SOD can increase a plant salt stress tolerance potentially by reducing oxidant injury.

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are involved in protecting plants against diverse biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present study, a novel Cu/Zn-SOD gene (JcCu/Zn-SOD) was cloned from Jatropha curcas L. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that JcCu/Zn-SOD is constitutively expressed in different tissues of J. curcas and induced under NaCl treatment. To characterize the function of this gene with respect to salt tolerance, the construct p35S:JcCu/Zn-SOD was developed and transformed into Arabidopsis using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Compared with wild-type, transgenic plants over-expressing JcCu/Zn-SOD showed enhanced tolerance to salt stress during germination, seedling establishment, and growth in terms of longer root, larger rosette area, and a larger number of leaves in addition to higher SOD activity levels under NaCl stress. In addition, over-expression of JcCu/Zn-SOD resulted in lower monodialdehyde content in transgenic Arabidopsis compared to wild-type plants under the same NaCl stress. Therefore, JcCu/Zn-SOD can increase a plant salt stress tolerance potentially by reducing oxidant injury.