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Pyramiding expression of maize genes encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) synergistically improve the photosynthetic characteristics of transgenic wheat

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Abstract

Using particle bombardment transformation, we introduced maize pepc cDNA encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and ppdk cDNA encoding pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) into the C3 crop wheat to generate transgenic wheat lines carrying cDNA of pepc (PC lines), ppdk (PK lines) or both (PKC lines). The integration, transcription, and expression of the foreign genes were confirmed by Southern blot, Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (Q-RT–PCR), and Western blot analysis. Q-RT-PCR results indicated that the average relative expression levels of pepc and ppdk in the PKC lines reached 10 and 4.6, respectively, compared to their expressions in untransformed plants (set to 1). The enzyme activities of PEPC and PPDK in the PKC lines were 4.3- and 2.1-fold higher, respectively, than in the untransformed control. The maximum daily net photosynthetic rates of the PKC, PC, and PK lines were enhanced by 26.4, 13.3, and 4.5 %, respectively, whereas the diurnal accumulations of photosynthesis were 21.3, 13.9, and 6.9 %, respectively, higher than in the control. The Fv/Fm of the transgenic plants decreased less than in the control under high temperature and high light conditions (2 weeks after anthesis), suggesting that the transgenic wheat transports more absorbed light energy into a photochemical reaction. The exogenous maize C4-specific pepc gene was more effective than ppdk at improving the photosynthetic performance and yield characteristics of transgenic wheat, while the two genes showed a synergistic effect when they were transformed into the same genetic background, because the PKC lines exhibited improved photosynthetic and physiological traits.

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Acknowledgments

The China Agriculture Research System (no. CARS-3-1-9), Genetically Modified Organisms Breeding Major Projects of China (no. 2011ZX08002-003), National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31371707), and National Key Technology R & D Program (nos. 2011BAD07B00 and 2011BAD35B03) supported this work.

Conflict of interest

We declare that the submitted manuscript does not contain previously published material, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Each author has made an important scientific contribution to the study and is thoroughly familiar with the primary data. All authors listed have read the complete manuscript and have approved the submission of the paper. The manuscript is a truthful original work without fabrication, fraud, or plagiarism. All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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  1. College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450002, China

    HuiFang Zhang

  2. Wheat Research Institute, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450002, China

    HuiFang Zhang, WeiGang Xu, HuiWei Wang, Lin Hu, Yan Li, XueLi Qi, Lei Zhang, ChunXin Li & Xia Hua

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Correspondence to WeiGang Xu.

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Zhang, H., Xu, W., Wang, H. et al. Pyramiding expression of maize genes encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) synergistically improve the photosynthetic characteristics of transgenic wheat. Protoplasma 251, 1163–1173 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-014-0624-1

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