Heterologous expression of an SK2-type dehydrin gene (MrDHN3) from Medicago ruthenica enhances Escherichia coli tolerance under salt and high temperature stress

doi:10.11686/cyxb2015510

Abstract

Abstract:

Medicago ruthenica, is an excellent legume in highland and cold regions, and is highly resistant to drought, cold and high salinity. Dehydrins (DHNs) are stress proteins involved in plant protective reactions against environmental stress. According to our previous RNA-sequence data, a DHN gene, MrDHN3, was cloned from young seedlings of M. ruthenica. Sequence analyses showed that the MrDHN3 gene contained a 666 bp open reading frame, putatively translated to 221 amino acids, and was an SK2-type acidic DHN. Amino acid sequence alignment showed that MrDHN3 shared the highest similarity (83%) with TrDHN3 and MtDHN3. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of MrDHN3 was induced by dehydration, cold, high salinity stress and abscisic acid (ABA), which suggests that MrDHN3 is involved in abiotic stress responses. A prokaryotic expression vector was constructed and transferred to Escherichia coli so as to induce MrDHN3 over expression in E. coli. The survival and growth of the recombinant E. coli under salinity and high temperature stress conditions were determined. It was found that survival rates of recombinant E. coli after exposure to high salinity (0.5 mol/L NaCl, 0.5 mol/L KCl) and high temperature (55 ℃) stress were obviously higher than those of the control group. This suggests that MrDHN3 plays an important role in cell response to damage caused by salinity and high temperature stress. This research indicates a potential methodology for the genetic improvement of crops to improve stress tolerance.

SHEN Ying-Fang, MA Chao, WU Xiao-Pei, ZHANG Ye-Meng, WANG Hai-Qing. Heterologous expression of an SK2-type dehydrin gene (MrDHN3) from Medicago ruthenica enhances Escherichia coli tolerance under salt and high temperature stress[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2016, 25(8): 118-127.

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