Biological Research Institute, National Council of Scientific and Technique Research (CONICET), University of Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata (UNMDP), Argentina.
Biological Research Institute, National Council of Scientific and Technique Research (CONICET), University of Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata (UNMDP), Argentina.
Plant Sci. 2020 Mar;292:110406. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2020.110406. Epub 2020 Jan 7.
Drought is an environmental stress that severely affects plant growth and crop production. Different studies have focused on drought responses but the molecular bases that regulate these mechanisms are still unclear. We report the participation of Aspartic Protease (APA1) in drought tolerance. Overexpressing APA1 Arabidopsis plants (OE-APA1), showed a phenotype more tolerant to drought compared with WT. On the contrary, apa1 insertional lines were more sensitive to this stress compared to WT plants. Morphological and physiological differences related with the water loss were observed between leaves of OE- APA1 and WT plants. OE-APA1 leaves showed lower stomata index and stomata density as well as a smaller of the stomatic aperture compared to WT plants. qPCR analysis in OE-APA1 leaves, showed higher expression levels of genes related to ABA signaling and synthesis. Analysis of plant lines expressing APA1 promoter fused to GUS showed that APA1 is expressed in epidermal and stomata cells. In summary, this work suggests that APA1 is involved in ABA-dependent response that its overexpression confers drought tolerance in Arabidopsis.
干旱是一种严重影响植物生长和作物产量的环境胁迫。不同的研究集中在干旱响应上，但调节这些机制的分子基础仍不清楚。我们报告了天冬氨酸蛋白酶（APA1）参与耐旱性。与 WT 相比，过表达 APA1 的拟南芥植物（OE-APA1）表现出对干旱更耐受的表型。相反，与 WT 植物相比，apa1 插入系对这种胁迫更敏感。在 OE-APA1 和 WT 植物的叶片之间观察到与水分损失相关的形态和生理差异。与 WT 植物相比，OE-APA1 叶片的气孔指数和气孔密度较低，气孔孔径也较小。在 OE-APA1 叶片中进行的 qPCR 分析显示，与 ABA 信号转导和合成相关的基因表达水平较高。分析表达 APA1 启动子与 GUS 融合的植物系表明，APA1 在表皮和气孔细胞中表达。总之，这项工作表明 APA1 参与 ABA 依赖性反应，其过表达赋予拟南芥耐旱性。
