Open AccessGroundnut AhcAPX conferred abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic banana through modulation of the ascorbate–glutathione pathway
Author(s) -
Shashi Shekhar,
Anjana Rustagi,
Deepak Kumar,
Mohammad Yusuf,
Neera Bhalla Sarin,
Kapil Lawrence
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physiology and molecular biology of plants/physiology and molecular biology of plants
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.754
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 0971-5894
pISSN - 0974-0430
DOI - 10.1007/s12298-019-00704-1
Subject(s) - abiotic stress , glutathione , abiotic component , transgene , plant physiology , biology , botany , biochemistry , gene , ecology , enzyme
A stress inducible cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase gene ( AhcAPX ) was ectopically expressed in banana (cv. Grand naine) plants to strengthen their antioxidant capacity. High level of AhcAPX gene transcripts and enzyme suggested constitutive and functional expression of candidate gene in transgenic (TR) plants. The tolerance level of in vitro and in vivo grown TR banana plantlets were assessed against salt and drought stress. The TR banana plants conferred tolerance against the abiotic stresses by maintaining a high redox state of ascorbate and glutathione, which correlated with lower accumulation of H 2 O 2 , O 2 ⋅- and higher level of antioxidant enzyme (SOD, APX, CAT, GR, DHAR and MDHAR) activities. The efficacy of AhcAPX over-expression was also investigated in terms of different physiochemical attributes of TR and untransformed control plants, such as, proline content, membrane stability, electrolyte leakage and chlorophyll retention. The TR plants showed higher photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm), and stomatal attributes under photosynthesis generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress. The outcome of present investigation suggest that ectopic expression of AhcAPX gene in banana enhances the tolerance to drought and salt stress by annulling the damage caused by ROS.