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ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS AND ADAPTATION TO STRESS

Galactinol and Raffinose Constitute a Novel Function to Protect Plants from Oxidative Damage^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Advanced Bioscience, Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, 3327–204 Nakamachi, Nara 631–8505, Japan

Galactinol synthase (GolS) is a key enzyme in the synthesis of raffinose family oligosaccharides that function as osmoprotectants in plant cells. In leaves of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants overexpressing heat shock transcription factor A2 (HsfA2), the transcription of GolS1, -2, and -4 and raffinose synthase 2 (RS2) was highly induced; thus, levels of galactinol and raffinose increased compared with those in wild-type plants under control growth conditions. In leaves of the wild-type plants, treatment with 50 µM methylviologen (MV) increased the transcript levels of not only HsfA2, but also GolS1, -2, -3, -4, and -8 and RS2, -4, -5, and -6, the total activities of GolS isoenzymes, and the levels of galactinol and raffinose. GolS1- or GolS2-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants (Ox-GolS1-11, Ox-GolS2-8, and Ox-GolS2-29) had increased levels of galactinol and raffinose in the leaves compared with wild-type plants under control growth conditions. High intracellular levels of galactinol and raffinose in the transgenic plants were correlated with increased tolerance to MV treatment and salinity or chilling stress. Galactinol and raffinose effectively protected salicylate from attack by hydroxyl radicals in vitro. These findings suggest the possibility that galactinol and raffinose scavenge hydroxyl radicals as a novel function to protect plant cells from oxidative damage caused by MV treatment, salinity, or chilling.

² Present address: School of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, 4–101 Koyama-Minami, Tottori 680–8550, Japan.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Shigeru Shigeoka (shigeoka{at}nara.kindai.ac.jp).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

^[OA] Open Access articles can be viewed online without a subscription.

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.108.122465

^* Corresponding author; e-mail shigeoka{at}nara.kindai.ac.jp.

Received May 2, 2008; accepted May 20, 2008; published May 23, 2008.

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