Department of Biology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America.
Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 May 19;15(5):e0233383. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233383. eCollection 2020.
ERECTA gene family encodes leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases that control major aspects of plant development such as elongation of aboveground organs, leaf initiation, development of flowers, and epidermis differentiation. To clarify the importance of ERECTA signaling for the development of soybean (Glycine max), we expressed the dominant-negative ERECTA gene from Arabidopsis thaliana that is truncated in the kinase domain (AtΔKinase). Expression of AtΔKinase in soybean resulted in the short stature, reduced number of leaves, reduced leaf surface area and enhanced branching in the transgenic plants. The transgenic AtΔKinase soybean plants exhibited increased tolerance to water deficit stress due to the reduction of total leaf area and reduced transpiration compared to the wild-type plants. Production of seeds in AtΔKinase lines was higher compared to wild type at regular conditions of cultivation and after exposure to drought stress. Transgenic seedlings expressing AtΔKinase were also able to withstand salt stress better than the wild-type. Established results demonstrated the significance of native soybean genes (GmER and GmERL) in development and stress response of soybean, and suggested that the truncated ERECTA gene of Arabidopsis thaliana can be used to manipulate the growth and stress response of different crop species.
ERECTA 基因家族编码富含亮氨酸重复的受体样激酶，控制植物发育的主要方面，如地上器官的伸长、叶片起始、花的发育和表皮分化。为了阐明 ERECTA 信号对大豆（Glycine max）发育的重要性，我们表达了来自拟南芥的显性负 ERECTA 基因，该基因在激酶结构域中截断（AtΔKinase）。AtΔKinase 在大豆中的表达导致转基因植物矮化、叶片数量减少、叶片表面积减少和分枝增加。与野生型植物相比，由于总叶面积减少和蒸腾作用降低，转基因 AtΔKinase 大豆植物对水分亏缺胁迫的耐受性增强。与野生型相比，在常规栽培条件和干旱胁迫后，AtΔKinase 系的种子产量更高。表达 AtΔKinase 的转基因幼苗也比野生型更能耐受盐胁迫。已建立的结果表明，大豆中内源性基因（GmER 和 GmERL）在大豆的发育和应激反应中具有重要意义，并且表明拟南芥的截断 ERECTA 基因可用于操纵不同作物物种的生长和应激反应。
