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Cyanobacteria MT gene SmtA enhance zinc tolerance in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Zinc is essential but toxic in excess. A bacterial metallothionein, SmtA from Synechococcus PCC 7942, has high affinity for Zn2+ and the intracellular exclusively handling of Zn2+. In this study, we report a functional analysis of SmtA in Arabidopsis thaliana and its response to zinc stress. After high zinc stress, the transgenic plants over-expressing SmtA showed higher survival rate than the wild type. We also found that over-expression of SmtA in Arabidopsis increased the activities of SOD and POD, and enhanced the tolerance to zinc stress. Together, our results indicate that SmtA may play an important role in the response to zinc stress in Arabidopsis.

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Abbreviations

MTs:

Metallothioneins

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

POD:

Peroxidase

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Shanghai and National Natural Science Foundation (30670179, 08ZR1417200); 863 Program (2006AA10Z117, 2006AA06Z358, 2008AA10Z401); Shanghai Project for ISTC (08540706500); The Key Project Fund of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Agriculture (No. 2008-7-5) and Shanghai Rising-Star Program (08QH14021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 2901 Beidi Road, Shanghai, 201106, China

    Jing Xu, Yong-Sheng Tian, Ri-He Peng, Ai-Sheng Xiong, Bo Zhu & Quan-Hong Yao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, 1 Weigang, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Jing Xu & Xi-Lin Hou

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  1. Jing Xu
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  2. Yong-Sheng Tian
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  4. Ai-Sheng Xiong
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Correspondence to Xi-Lin Hou or Quan-Hong Yao.

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J. Xu and Y.-S. Tian are contributed equally to the article.

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Xu, J., Tian, YS., Peng, RH. et al. Cyanobacteria MT gene SmtA enhance zinc tolerance in Arabidopsis . Mol Biol Rep 37, 1105–1110 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-009-9867-x

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