Sunflower germin-like protein (HaGLP1) promotes ROS accumulation and enhances protection against fungal pathogens in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

BERACOCHEA,V.C.,; NATALIA I. ALMASIA; PELUFFO,L., ; NARHIRNAK,V., , ; DELVAS M.; HEINZ,R., ; VAZQUEZ-ROVERE, C.; LIA,V.V.

Congreso; XLVIII Reunión Anual de la SAIB; 2014

Germin-like proteins (GLPs) are a large, diverse and ubiquitous family of plant glycoproteins that belong to the Cupin super family. They have been widely studied due to their diverse roles in important plant processes such as defense. Here, we isolated the HaGLP1 gene, one GLP from sunflower, being the first isolated member of the family Compositae. To analyze whether constitutive in vivo expression of the HaGLP1 gene may lead to disease tolerance we developed transgenic Arabidopsis plants that were molecularly characterized and biologically assessed against Sclerotina sclerotiorum and Rhizoctonia solani. Ours results demonstrate that the expression of HaGLP1 in adults Arabidopsis confers toleance to destructive S. sclerotiorum at first stage of the disease evolution and interferes with R. solani infection, giving rise to significant resistance also against this pathogen. Furthermore, the expression of the sunflower germin like HaGLP1 elevates the endogenous levels of ROS in Arabidopsis plants. In addition, the enhanced tolerance of HaGLP1 lines does not appear to be related to the expression regulation of a subset of plant defense-related genes or ROS production-involved genes. In conclusion, our data suggest that HaGLP1 is an interesting candidate gene for engineering plants to confer protection against pathogens or for the selection of naturally overexpressing genotypes in sunflower germplasm banks for conventional breeding purposes.