biologia plantarum

International journal on Plant Life established by Bohumil Nìmec in 1959

Biologia plantarum 63:627-632, 2019 | DOI: 10.32615/bp.2019.059

Overexpression of the alfalfa zeaxanthin epoxidase gene delaysseed germination in transgenic tobacco

Y.M. CAO1, Z.Q. ZHANG1,2, T. ZHANG1, J. AN1, L.Q. CHANG1, Y.F. WANG1, H.X. WU3, T.M. HU1,*, P.Z. YANG1,*
1 College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, P.R. China College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture,
2 Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010011, P.R. China
3 Grassland Research Institute of CAAS, Hohhot, 010010, Inner Mongolia, P.R. China

Zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP) plays important roles in plant growth and development due to its functions in abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis and in the xanthophyll cycle. Many studies have been exploring the roles of ZEP in seed germination and response to various environmental stresses. In this study, we reported that heterologously overexpressing the ZEP gene from Medicago sativa (MsZEP) in tobacco increased ABA content in tobacco mature seeds and negatively regulated seed germination. Enhanced ABA synthesis in seed embryo and delayed germination might also be related to the increased 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED6) expression. Moreover, we found that overexpression of MsZEP resulted in an increased expression of the SOMNUS gene but a decreased expression of the DNA ligase 6 gene (Lig6) suggesting that MsZEP might affect seed proteome and DNA integrity. Furthermore, enhanced chlorophyll content in transgenic tobacco seedlings overexpressing MsZEP might be due to its function in the xanthophyll cycle and ABA biosynthesis.

Keywords: abscisic acid, chlorophyll, Medicago sativa, Lig6, NCED6, Nicotiana tabacum, SOMNUS, xanthophyll cycle.

Received: August 15, 2018; Revised: February 24, 2019; Accepted: February 28, 2019; Published online: September 16, 2019  Show citation

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CAO, Y.M., ZHANG, Z.Q., ZHANG, T., AN, J., CHANG, L.Q., WANG, Y.F., ... YANG, P.Z. (2019). Overexpression of the alfalfa zeaxanthin epoxidase gene delaysseed germination in transgenic tobacco. Biologia plantarum, 63, Article 627-632. https://doi.org/10.32615/bp.2019.059
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