Pan Wen-Jia, Tao Jian-Jun, Cheng Tong, Shen Ming, Ma Jin-Biao, Zhang Wan-Ke, Lin Qin, Ma Biao, Chen Shou-Yi, Zhang Jin-Song
State Key Lab of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Plant Cell Physiol. 2017 Jul 1;58(7):1268-1278. doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcx060.
NEK (NIMA-related kinase) is known as a family of serine/threonine kinases which mainly participate in microtubule-related mitotic events in fungi, mammals and other eukaryotes. Our previous studies found that Arabidopsis NEK6 plays an important role in plant response to abiotic stress. We further investigated roles of the NEK family in soybean and found that at least eight members can respond to abiotic stresses. Among them, only GmNEK1, a novel NEK member which is distantly related to Arabidopsis NEK6, enhanced plant growth and promoted salt and cold tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. The growth of soybean plants harboring GmNEK1-overexpressing hairy roots under saline condition was also improved. A series of stress-related genes including RH3, CORI3 and ALDH10A8 were found to be up-regulated in GmNEK1-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants and soybean hairy roots. Moreover, soybean plants with GmRH3-overexpressing hairy roots exhibited increased salt tolerance, while soybean plants with GmRH3-RNAi (RNA interference) roots were more sensitive to salt stress than the wild-type plants. Our study uncovers a novel role for GmNEK1 in promoting plant adaptive growth under adverse conditions at least partially through up-regulation of GmRH3. Manipulation of these genes in soybean or other crops may improve growth and production under stress conditions.
NEK（NIMA相关激酶）是一类丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶，主要参与真菌、哺乳动物和其他真核生物中与微管相关的有丝分裂事件。我们之前的研究发现，拟南芥NEK6在植物对非生物胁迫的响应中起重要作用。我们进一步研究了NEK家族在大豆中的作用，发现至少有八个成员可以对非生物胁迫作出反应。其中，只有GmNEK1，一个与拟南芥NEK6亲缘关系较远的新型NEK成员，能增强转基因拟南芥植株的生长并提高其耐盐性和耐寒性。在盐胁迫条件下，携带过表达GmNEK1的发根的大豆植株的生长也得到了改善。在过表达GmNEK1的拟南芥植株和大豆发根中，发现包括RH3、CORI3和ALDH10A8在内的一系列与胁迫相关的基因上调。此外，过表达GmRH3的发根的大豆植株表现出更高的耐盐性，而过表达GmRH3-RNAi（RNA干扰）的发根的大豆植株比野生型植株对盐胁迫更敏感。我们的研究揭示了GmNEK1在促进植物在逆境条件下适应性生长中的新作用，至少部分是通过上调GmRH3来实现的。在大豆或其他作物中操纵这些基因可能会改善胁迫条件下的生长和产量。
