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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Overexpression of SCL30A from cassava (Manihot esculenta) negatively regulates salt tolerance in Arabidopsis

Qing Hu A B , Yanhang Chen B , Yunfeng Zhao A , Jinbao Gu B , Muqing Ma A , Hua Li B , Cong Li https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0071-8162 B * and Zhen-Yu Wang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0386-490X B C *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresource, Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China.

B Institute of Nanfan & Seed Industry, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangdong 510316, China.

C Zhanjiang Sugarcane Research Center, Guangzhou Sugarcane Industry Research Institute, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 524300, China.


Handling Editor: Honghong Wu

Functional Plant Biology 48(12) 1213-1224 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP21165
Submitted: 28 May 2021  Accepted: 13 August 2021   Published: 4 October 2021

© 2021 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Soil salinity is a significant threat to sustainable agricultural production. Plants must adjust their developmental and physiological processes to deal with environmental salt conditions. We previously identified 18 serine-arginine-rich (SR) proteins from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) that play pivotal roles in alternative splicing when encountering the external stress condition. However, functional characterisation of SR proteins is less reported in cassava, which is an important staple crop in the world. In the current study, we found that the expression of cassava spliceosomal component 35-like 30A (MeSCL30A) was significantly induced in response to drought and salt stress. The MeSCL30A overexpressing lines were also obtained in Arabidopsis thaliana L., which flowered earlier when compared with Col-0. Moreover, the MeSCL30A overexpressing lines were hypersensitive to salt and drought stress with lower germination and greening rate in comparison to Col-0. Importantly, soil-grown overexpression lines exhibited salt sensitivity through modulating the reactive oxygen species homeostasis and negatively regulating the gene expression that involved in ionic stress pathway. Therefore, these findings refined the SR protein-coding genes and provided novel insights for enhancing the resistance to environmental stress in plant.

Keywords: cassava, detoxication enzymes, flowering, MeSCL30A, reactive oxygen species, salt stress, seed germination, serine-arginine-rich proteins.


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