First published online January 23, 2003; 10.1104/pp.007237
Plant Physiol, February 2003, Vol. 131, pp. 516-524
Expression of a Bifunctional Fusion of the Escherichia
coli Genes for Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase and
Trehalose-6-Phosphate Phosphatase in Transgenic Rice Plants Increases
Trehalose Accumulation and Abiotic Stress Tolerance without Stunting
Growth1
In-Cheol
Jang,2
Se-Jun
Oh,2
Ju-Seok
Seo,2
Won-Bin
Choi,
Sang Ik
Song,
Chung Ho
Kim,
Youn Shic
Kim,
Hak-Soo
Seo,
Yang Do
Choi,
Baek Hie
Nahm, and
Ju-Kon
Kim*
Department of Biological Science, Myongji University, Yongin
449-728, Korea (I.-C.J., S.-J.O., W.-B.C., S.I.S., B.H.N., J.-K.K.);
School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Suwon
441-744, Korea (J.-S.S., H.-S.S., Y.D.C.); Department of Food and
Nutrition, Seowon University, Chongju 361-742, Korea (C.H.K.); and
Genomics and Genetics Institute, GreenGene BioTech, Yongin 449-728,
Korea (Y.S.K., B.H.N., J.-K.K.)
Trehalose plays an important role in stress tolerance in
plants. Trehalose-producing, transgenic rice (Oryza
sativa) plants were generated by the introduction of a gene
encoding a bifunctional fusion (TPSP) of the trehalose-6-phosphate
(T-6-P) synthase (TPS) and T-6-P phosphatase (TPP) of
Escherichia coli, under the control of the maize
(Zea mays) ubiquitin promoter
(Ubi1). The high catalytic efficiency (Seo et
al., 2000) of the fusion enzyme and the single-gene engineering
strategy make this an attractive candidate for high-level production of
trehalose; it has the added advantage of reducing the accumulation of
potentially deleterious T-6-P. The trehalose levels in leaf and seed
extracts from Ubi1::TPSP plants were increased up to 1.076 mg g fresh weight 1. This level was 200-fold
higher than that of transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana
tabacum) plants transformed independently with either TPS or TPP expression cassettes. The
carbohydrate profiles were significantly altered in the seeds, but not
in the leaves, of Ubi1::TPSP plants. It has
been reported that transgenic plants with E. coli TPS
and/or TPP were severely stunted and root morphology was
altered. Interestingly, our Ubi1::TPSP plants
showed no growth inhibition or visible phenotypic alterations despite
the high-level production of trehalose. Moreover, trehalose
accumulation in Ubi1::TPSP plants resulted in
increased tolerance to drought, salt, and cold, as shown by chlorophyll
fluorescence and growth inhibition analyses. Thus, our results suggest
that trehalose acts as a global protectant against abiotic stress, and
that rice is more tolerant to trehalose synthesis than dicots.
1
This work was supported by the Ministry of
Science and Technology through the Crop Functional Genomics Center
(grants to J.-K.K. and S.I.S.), by the Korea Science and Engineering
Foundation through the Plant Metabolism Research Center at Kyung-Hee
University (grant to J.-K.K.), and by the Ministry of Education's
Brain Korea 21 Project (fellowships to I.-C. J., S.-J.O., J.-S.S.,
and S.I.S.).
2
These authors contributed equally to the paper.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail jukon{at}bio.myongji.ac.kr; fax
82-31-335-8249.
© 2003 American Society of Plant Biologists
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