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JXB Advance Access originally published online on April 10, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(6):1679-1689; doi:10.1093/jxb/erp030
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Expression of the ggpPS gene for glucosylglycerol biosynthesis from Azotobacter vinelandii improves the salt tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana

Stephan Klähn1, Daniel M. Marquardt2, Inga Rollwitz1,2 and Martin Hagemann1,*

1Universität Rostock, Institut für Biowissenschaften, Abteilung Pflanzenphysiologie, A.- Einstein-Str. 3, D-18051 Rostock, Germany
2Universität zu Köln, Botanisches Institut, Gyrhofstr. 15, D-50931 Köln, Germany

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: martin.hagemann{at}uni-rostock.de

Many organisms accumulate compatible solutes in response to salt or desiccation stress. Moderate halotolerant cyanobacteria and some heterotrophic bacteria synthesize the compatible solute glucosylglycerol (GG) as their main protective compound. In order to analyse the potential of GG to improve salt tolerance of higher plants, the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana was transformed with the ggpPS gene from the {gamma}-proteobacterium Azotobacter vinelandii coding for a combined GG-phosphate synthase/phosphatase. The heterologous expression of the ggpPS gene led to the accumulation of high amounts of GG. Three independent Arabidopsis lines showing different GG contents were characterized in growth experiments. Plants containing a low (1–2 µmol g–1 FM) GG content in leaves showed no altered growth performance under control conditions but an increased salt tolerance, whereas plants accumulating a moderate (2–8 µmol g–1 FM) or a high GG content (around 17 µmol g–1 FM) showed growth retardation and no improvement of salt resistance. These results indicate that the synthesis of the compatible solute GG has a beneficial effect on plant stress tolerance as long as it is accumulated to an extent that does not negatively interfere with plant metabolism.

Key words: Compatible solute, sugar metabolism, stress, transgenic plant

Received 14 November 2008; Revised 13 January 2009 Accepted 26 January 2009


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