identification and functional study of a tomato zinc finger protein gene
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Chao, Chun-To
Abstract
Plant constantly encounters environmental stresses, including abiotic and biotic factors. Water deficit (WD) and bacterial wilt (BW, caused by Ralstaonia solanacearum or Rs) are very important factors limiting crop production worldwide. The nature of BW shares commonness with that of WD. However, information on plant defense response to these stresses is far from sufficient. To elucidate plant stress defense mechanisms, this study aimed to study functions of a group of genes previously selected from tomato WD/BW microarray analyses. First, the genes were subjected to VIGS assays to study their roles in tomato BW defense response. The transcript accumulation of the test genes in stembases of a silenced BW-resistant tomato cultivar (Hawaii 7996, H7996) was reduced at various levels. Further BW bioassays revealed that silencing of a few genes led to a significant increase of R. solanacearum growth and BW symptom development. Additionally, The expression of a few of these genes in a H7996 was enhanced in response to R. solanacearum infection, further suggesting their involvement in tomato BW response. Moreover, functional study was performed on SlZFP. Its expression at transcriptional level was reduced by salicylic acid and ethephon treatment. Localization assay showed that SlZFP:GFP recombinant proteins colocalized on cytoskeleton with the microtubule marker protein in Arabidopsis protoplasts. Transgenic Arabidopsis and Nicotiana benthamiana plants containing 35S::SlZFP or 35S::SlZFP-GFP have been generated. Compared to the control plants, the transgenic Arabidopsis lines conferred enhanced tolerance to salinity, similar response to Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, and increased BW development. These results suggest that the level of SlZFP might need to be fine-tuned in order to achieve the optimal disease defense response. This protein might play some role in the possible antagonistic interaction in plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. This study is expected to pave the way not only for elucidating mechanisms and determinants involved in plant stress defense responses, but also potentially benefit the establishment of useful disease control means.
Subjects
bacterial wilt
water deficit
zinc finger protein
cytoskeleton
phytohormone
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