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Overexpression of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase gene improves chilling tolerance in tomato

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Abstract

A tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase gene (LeGPAT) was isolated. The deduced amino acid sequence revealed that LeGPAT contained four acyltransferase domains, showing high identities with GPAT in other plant species. A GFP fusion protein of LeGPAT was targeted to chloroplast in cowpea mesophyll protoplast. RNA gel blot showed that the mRNA accumulation of LeGPAT in the wild type (WT) was induced by chilling temperature. Higher expression levels were observed when tomato leaves were exposed to 4°C for 4 h. RNA gel and western blot analysis confirmed that the sense gene LeGPAT was transferred into the tomato genome and overexpressed under the control of 35S-CaMV. Although tomato is classified as a chilling-sensitive plant, LeGPAT exhibited selectivity to 18:1 over 16:0. Overexpression of LeGPAT increased total activity of LeGPAT and cis-unsaturated fatty acids in PG in thylakoid membrane. Chilling treatment induced less ion leakage from the transgenic plants than from the WT. The photosynthetic rate and the maximal photochemical efficiency of PS II (Fv/Fm) in transgenic plants decreased more slowly during chilling stress and recovered faster than in WT under optimal conditions. The oxidizable P700 in both WT and transgenic plants decreased obviously at chilling temperature under low irradiance, but the oxidizable P700 recovered faster in transgenic plants than in the WT. These results indicate that overexpression of LeGPAT increased the levels of PG cis-unsaturated fatty acids in thylakoid membrane, which was beneficial for the recovery of chilling-induced PS I photoinhibition in tomato.

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Abbreviations

DGDG:

Digalactosyldiacylglycerol

Fv/Fm:

Maximal photochemical efficiency of PS II

Fo:

Initial fluorescence

Fv:

Variable fluorescence

Fm:

Maximum yield of fluorescence

GPAT:

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase

LeGPAT :

Lycopersicon esculentum glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase gene

MGDG:

Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol

PPFD:

Photosynthetic photon flux density

PG:

Phosphatidylglycerol

PS I (II):

Photosystem I (II)

P700:

PS I reaction center

PVDF:

Polyvinylidene fluoride

SDS-PAGE:

Sodium dodecyl sulfate poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis

SQDG:

sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol

16:0:

palmitic acid

16:1:

Δ3-Trans-hexadecenoic acid

18:0:

Stearic acid

18:1:

Oleic acid

18:2:

Linoleic acid

18:3:

Inolenic acid

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the State Key Basic Research and Development Plan of China (2006CB100100) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (30471053).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Key Lab of Crop Biology of Shandong Province, Tai’an, 271018, People’s Republic of China

    Na Sui, Shi-Jie Zhao, Feng Li & Qing-Wei Meng

  2. Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Meng Li

  3. The State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Liang

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  1. Na Sui
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  2. Meng Li
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  3. Shi-Jie Zhao
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  4. Feng Li
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  5. Hui Liang
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  6. Qing-Wei Meng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qing-Wei Meng.

Additional information

LeGPAT was submitted to the GenBank databases under accession number DQ459433 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).

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Sui, N., Li, M., Zhao, SJ. et al. Overexpression of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase gene improves chilling tolerance in tomato. Planta 226, 1097–1108 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-007-0554-7

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