Premium
Transgenic potato plants expressing the cold‐inducible transcription factor SCOF ‐1 display enhanced tolerance to freezing stress
Author(s) -
Kim YunHee,
Kim Myoung Duck,
Park SungChul,
Jeong Jae Cheol,
Kwak SangSoo,
Lee HaengSoon
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plant breeding
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1439-0523
pISSN - 0179-9541
DOI - 10.1111/pbr.12390
Subject(s) - biology , frost (temperature) , hardiness (plants) , horticulture , lipid peroxidation , solanum tuberosum , photosynthesis , cold tolerance , botany , acclimatization , proline , chlorophyll , genetically modified crops , transgene , oxidative stress , cultivar , biochemistry , gene , geomorphology , geology , amino acid
Potato ( Solanum tuberosum ) is a frost‐sensitive species that is incapable of cold acclimation. Brief exposure to frost can significantly reduce yield, and hard frost can completely destroy entire crops. Thus, enhancing freezing tolerance by even a few degrees would considerably improve crop hardiness to frost damage. Transgenic potato plants expressing the soybean cold‐inducible zinc finger transcription factor ( SCOF ‐1 ) under control of the oxidative stress‐inducible sweet potato peroxidase ( SWPA 2 ) promoter (designated as SF plants) were generated, and leaf discs and whole plants were evaluated for enhanced tolerance to cold and freezing conditions. SF plants were treated with 4°C for 5 days, and SCOF ‐1 expression positively correlated with tolerance to cold stress. SF plants treated with cold stress exhibited greater photosynthetic activity and total chlorophyll levels than those in cold‐stressed non‐transformed ( NT ) plants. During freeze–thaw treatment, lipid peroxidation levels in SF plants recovered to approximately prestress levels after 12 h of recovery at 25°C, whereas lipid peroxidation remained at an increased level in NT plants after the same recovery period. The results of our study indicate that freezing stress can be efficiently enhanced in potato by overexpressing SCOF ‐1 .