biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 56:135-139, 2012 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-012-0029-y

Transformation with a gene for myo-inositol O-methyltransferase enhances the cold tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana

B. Zhu^1,2, R. -H. Peng¹, A. -S. Xiong¹, J. Xu³, X. -Y. Fu¹, W. Zhao¹, X. -F. Jin¹, X. -R. Meng⁴, J. -J. Gao³, R. Cai^2,*, Q. -H. Yao^1,*

¹ Agro-Biotechnology Research Center, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China

² College of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China

³ College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, P.R. China

⁴ College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, P.R. China

In this study, we report a function of myo-inositol-O-methyltransferase (Imt1) in response to low temperature stress using transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana. Imt1 gene was constructed identical to the Imt1 gene from a halophyte Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. After cold stress, the Imt1 transgenic plants exhibited stronger growth than the wild type plants. The elevated cold tolerance of the Imt1 over-expressing plants was confirmed by the lower electrolyte leakage and accumulation of malondialdehyde, but higher proline and soluble sugar contents in transgenic than wild type plants.

Keywords: electrolyte leakage; malondialdehyde; proline; soluble sugars

Subjects: electrolyte leakage; malondialdehyde; proline; myo-inositol O-methyltransferase; temperature - low; PCR; gene construct; sugars

Received: July 31, 2010; Accepted: October 15, 2010; Published: March 1, 2012  Show citation