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Overexpression of wheat dehydrin DHN-5 enhances tolerance to salt and osmotic stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

  • Biotic and Abiotic Stress
  • Published:
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Abstract

Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins are associated with tolerance to water-related stress. A wheat (Triticum durum) group 2 LEA proteins, known also as dehydrin (DHN-5), has been previously shown to be induced by salt and abscisic acid (ABA). In this report, we analyze the effect of ectopic expression of Dhn-5 cDNA in Arabidopsis thaliana plants and their response to salt and osmotic stress. When compared to wild type plants, the Dhn-5 transgenic plants exhibited stronger growth under high concentrations of NaCl or under water deprivation, and showed a faster recovery from mannitol treatment. Leaf area and seed germination rate decreased much more in wild type than in transgenic plants subjected to salt stress. Moreover, the water potential was more negative in transgenic than in wild type plants. In addition, the transgenic plants have higher proline contents and lower water loss rate under water stress. Also, Na+ and K+ accumulate to higher contents in the leaves of the transgenic plants. Our data strongly support the hypothesis that Dhn-5, by its protective role, contributes to an improved tolerance to salt and drought stress through osmotic adjustment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported jointly by grants from the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology, Tunisia and the Agence Espagnole de cooperation Internationale (AECI) Officina Técnica de Cooperación, Spain. Authors are grateful to Prof. Barbara Hohn for critical reading of this manuscript and Dr. Ahmed Rebaï for statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Molecular Genetics Unit, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS), B.P’K’, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Faïçal Brini, Moez Hanin, Imen Amara, Habib Khoudi, Afif Hassairi & Khaled Masmoudi

  2. Departament de Genetica Molecular, Centre d’Investigaciò i Desenvolupament (C.S.I.C), Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Victoria Lumbreras & Montserrat Pagès

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  1. Faïçal Brini
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  2. Moez Hanin
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  3. Victoria Lumbreras
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  4. Imen Amara
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  5. Habib Khoudi
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  6. Afif Hassairi
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  7. Montserrat Pagès
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  8. Khaled Masmoudi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Khaled Masmoudi.

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Communicated by J. Zou.

Faïçal Brini and Moez Hanin have contributed equally to this work.

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Brini, F., Hanin, M., Lumbreras, V. et al. Overexpression of wheat dehydrin DHN-5 enhances tolerance to salt and osmotic stress in Arabidopsis thaliana . Plant Cell Rep 26, 2017–2026 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-007-0412-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-007-0412-x

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