Production of abiotic stress-tolerant plants through the regulation of polyamine catabolic pathway and exploration of its molecular basis

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14705
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied biochemistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Kusano Tomonobu 東北大学, 生命科学研究科, 名誉教授 (40186383)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 植物 / ポリアミン / ポリアミン酸化酵素 / 分解制御 / ストレス耐性 / 活性酸素種 / ストレス防御遺伝子

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The link between polyamine oxidases and stress responses remains elusive. This issue was addressed using Arabidopsis polyamine oxidase (pao) mutants. The five single pao mutants and wild type showed similar response to salt stress. Then two double pao mutants were generated by crossing, and tested the salt stress response. The pao mutant which showed the reduced cytoplasmic polyamine oxidase activity became high salt- and drought-tolerant compared to wild type plant. Upon salt stress this mutant produced less amount of reactive oxygen species and induced the genes of salt overly sensitive-, ABA-dependent- and ABA-independent pathways. The results suggest that the Arabidopsis plant silencing cytoplasmic polyamine oxidase genes shows salinity tolerance by reducing ROS production and inducing subsets of stress-responsive genes.

Free Research Field

植物分子生物学