Research article
Overexpression of the NAC transcription factor JUNGBRUNNEN1 (JUB1) increases salinity tolerance in tomato

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2019.04.038Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • NAC transcription factors are involved in abiotic stress tolerance.

  • Tomatoes overexpressing AtJUB1 OE show improved growth maintenance during salt stress.

  • AtJUB1 OE tomatoes also show some effect on yield related parameters during salt stress.

  • AtJUB1 OE tomatoes display altered water relations proline levels during salt stress.

Abstract

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress affecting plant growth and yield, due to both osmotic and ionic stresses. JUBGBRUNNEN1 (JUB1) is a NAC family transcription factor that has been shown to be involved in responses to abiotic stresses, such as water deficit, osmotic, salinity, heat and oxidative stress. In Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis), JUB1 has been shown to improve plant stress tolerance by regulating H2O2 levels. In the horticultural crop, Solanum lycopersicum cv. Moneymaker (tomato), overexpression of AtJUB1 has been shown to partially alleviate water deficit stress at the vegetative stage. In this study, we investigated the effect of Arabidopsis JUB1 overexpression in salinity tolerance in tomato. In hydroponically grown tomato seedlings, AtJUB1 overexpression results in higher prolines levels and improves the maintenance of water content in the plant under salinity stress. The transgenic tomato plants are more tolerant to salinity stress compared to control lines based on plant biomass. However, at the reproductive stage, we found that overexpression of AtJUB1 only provided marginal improvements in yield-related parameters, in the conditions used for the current work. The combination of improved water deficit and salinity stress tolerance conferred by AtJUB1 overexpression may be beneficial when tomato plants are grown in the field under marginal environments.

Keywords

Hydroponics
JUB1
NAC transcription factor
Salinity tolerance
Salt stress
Tomato

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