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

BERACOCHEA, V; ALMASIA, NI; PELUFFO, L; NAHIRÑAK, V; DEL VAS, M; HOPP, EH; PANIEGO, N; VAZQUEZ ROVERE, C; HEINZ, RA.; LIA, VV

Rosario

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 from sunflower, which is the first GLP characterized from the family Asteraceae. 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. Our results demonstrate that the expression of HaGLP1 in adult Arabidopsis plants confers tolerance to destructive S. sclerotiorum at first stages of disease and interferes with R. solani infection, giving rise to significant resistance against this pathogen. Furthermore, the expression of HaGLP1 elevates the endogenous levels of ROS in Arabidopsis plants. The enhanced tolerance provided by HaGLP1 does not appear to be related to the regulation of the plant defense or ROS-related genes examined here. In conclusion, our data suggest that HaGLP1 is an interesting candidate gene for engineering plants to confer protection against pathogens, and also for the selection of naturally overexpressing genotypes for conventional breeding purposes.