Skip Navigation


JXB Advance Access originally published online on February 2, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(4):1261-1271; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern363
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
60/4/1261    most recent
ern363v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Abreu, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Munné-Bosch, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Abreu, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Munné-Bosch, S.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Abreu, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Munné-Bosch, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 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

Salicylic acid deficiency in NahG transgenic lines and sid2 mutants increases seed yield in the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Maria Elizabeth Abreu and Sergi Munné-Bosch*

Departament de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Biologia, Avinguda Diagonal 645, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: smunne{at}ub.edu

Salicylic acid-deficient NahG transgenic lines and sid2 mutants were used to evaluate the role of this compound in the development of the short-lived, annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana, with a particular focus on the interplay between salicylic acid and other phytohormones. Low salicylic acid levels led to increased growth, as well as to smaller abscisic acid levels and reduced damage to PSII (as indicated by Fv/Fm ratios) during the reproductive stages in rosette leaves of NahG transgenic lines and sid2 mutants, compared with wild-type plants. Furthermore, salicylic acid deficiency highly influenced seed yield and composition. Seed production increased by 4.4-fold and 3.5-fold in NahG transgenic lines and sid2 mutants, respectively, compared to the wild type. Salicylic acid deficiency also improved seed composition in terms of antioxidant vitamin concentrations, seeds of salicylic acid-deficient plants showing higher levels of {alpha}- and {gamma}-tocopherol (vitamin E) and β-carotene (pro-vitamin A) than seeds of wild-type plants. Seeds of salicylic acid-deficient plants also showed higher nitrogen concentrations than seeds of wild-type plants. It is concluded that (i) the sid2 gene, which encodes for isochorismate synthase, plays a central role in salicylic acid biosynthesis during plant development in A. thaliana, (ii) salicylic acid plays a role in the regulation of growth, senescence, and seed production, (iii) there is a cross-talk between salicylic acid and other phytohormones during plant development, and (iv) the concentrations of antioxidant vitamins in seeds may be influenced by the endogenous levels of salicylic acid in plants.

Key words: Abscisic acid, antioxidant vitamins, phytohormones, salicylic acid, seed production, senescence

Received 15 December 2008; Accepted 23 December 2008


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ANN BOT (LOND)Home page
M. Onate and S. Munne-Bosch
Influence of plant maturity, shoot reproduction and sex on vegetative growth in the dioecious plant Urtica dioica
Ann. Bot., October 1, 2009; 104(5): 945 - 956.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.