Premium
Improved germination under osmotic stress of tobacco plants overexpressing a cell wall peroxidase
Author(s) -
Amaya Iraida,
Botella Miguel A.,
de la Calle Mercedes,
Medina Maria I.,
Heredia Antonio,
Bressan Ray A.,
Hasegawa Paul M.,
Quesada Miguel A.,
Valpuesta Victoriano
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(99)01011-x
Subject(s) - germination , cell wall , peroxidase , differential scanning calorimetry , chemistry , horticulture , osmotic shock , osmotic pressure , botany , transgene , biophysics , enzyme , biology , biochemistry , physics , gene , thermodynamics
The cell wall is a fundamental component in the response of plants to environmental changes. To directly assess the role of the cell wall we have increased the expression and activity of a cell wall associated peroxidase (TPX2), an enzyme involved in modifying cell wall architecture. Overexpression of TPX2 had no effect on wild‐type development, but greatly increased the germination rate under high salt or osmotic stress. Differential scanning calorimetry showed that transgenic seeds were able to retain more water available for germination than wild‐type seeds. Thermoporometry calculations indicated that this could be due to a lower mean pore size in the walls of transgenic seeds. Therefore, the higher capacity of transgenic seeds in retaining water could result in higher germination rates in conditions where the availability of water is restricted.