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ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS AND ADAPTATION TO STRESS

Expression of Pyrococcus furiosus Superoxide Reductase in Arabidopsis Enhances Heat Tolerance^{1,[C],[W],[OA]}

Department of Plant Biology (Y.J.I., W.F.B.) and Department of Microbiology (M.J., A.L., R.K., A.M.G.), North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695

Plants produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in response to environmental stresses sending signaling cues, which, if uncontrolled, result in cell death. Like other aerobic organisms, plants have ROS-scavenging enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), which removes superoxide anion radical (O₂^–) and prevents the production and buildup of toxic free radicals. However, increasing the expression of cytosolic SODs is complex, and increasing their production in vivo has proven to be challenging. To avoid problems with endogenous regulation of gene expression, we expressed a gene from the archaeal hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus that reduces O₂^–. P. furiosus uses superoxide reductase (SOR) rather than SOD to remove superoxide. SOR is a thermostable enzyme that reduces O₂^– in a one-electron reduction without producing oxygen. We show that P. furiosus SOR can be produced as a functional enzyme in planta and that plants producing SOR have enhanced tolerance to heat, light, and chemically induced ROS. Stress tolerance in the SOR-producing plants correlates positively with a delayed increase in ROS-sensitive transcripts and a decrease in ascorbate peroxidase activity. The SOR plants provide a good model system to study the impact of cytosolic ROS on downstream signaling in plant growth and development. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that this synthetic approach for reducing cytosolic ROS holds promise as a means for improving stress tolerance in crop plants.

² Present address: Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., 3054 East Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.

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: Wendy F. Boss (wendy_boss{at}ncsu.edu).

^[C] Some figures in this article are displayed in color online but in black and white in the print edition.

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

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.109.145409

^* Corresponding author; e-mail wendy_boss{at}ncsu.edu.

Received July 27, 2009; accepted August 7, 2009; published August 14, 2009.