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Salt and drought stress tolerance with increased biomass in transgenic Pelargonium graveolens through heterologous expression of ACC deaminase gene from Achromobacter xylosoxidans

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Abstract

Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) is a strongly aromatic medicinal plant with increasing market demand. The present study demonstrated that the transgenic P. graveolens exhibited a remarkable increase in plant height (~20–23%), total biomass (18–60%), leaf: stem ratio (12–21%) and quantity of oil, compared to its wild-type counterpart. Transgenic P. graveolens expressing ACC deaminase gene from Achromobacter xylosoxidans, encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylilate under the control of 35 S CaMV promoter showed immense tolerance to salinity and drought stress than the wild-type plant. Parameters examined were chlorophyll content, photosynthetic parameters, relative water content (RWC), ROS production, antioxidants, proline, ACC content and real time analysis of ACC synthase, ACC deaminase, and ACC oxidase genes. The ACC deaminase-expressing transgenic lines viz. L1, L5 and L7 demonstrate a decrease of ACC content under salt and drought stress, which could lead increased ethylene production, which in turn may affect salt and drought stress. Transgenic P. graveolens showed enhanced tolerance to salt and drought stress as reflected as a result of higher leaf RWC, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic parameter, accumulation of proline and more antioxidant activity. The reported transgenic P. graveolens lines are potentially valuable materials for cultivation in saline and drought-prone areas.

Key message

In this manuscript we are reporting successful production of transgenic P. graveolens with acc deaminase gene of bacterial origin. The transgenic plant has shown increase in biomass, high leaf: stem ratio, enhanced tolerance to salt and drought stress with better economic yield.

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Abbreviations

ACC:

1-Aminonocyclopropane-1-Carboxylicacid

RWC:

Relative Water Content

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

BAP:

Benzylaminopurine

NAA:

Naphthalene Acetic Acid

ADS:

Adenine Di-Sulphate

nptII:

Neomycin Phosphotransferase

ROS:

Reactive Oxygen Species

DAB:

Diaminobenzidine

NBT:

Nitroblue Tetrazolium

SOD:

Superoxide Dismutase

POD:

Peroxidise

CAT:

Catalase

ACCS:

ACC Synthase

ACCD:

ACC Deaminase

ACCO:

ACC Oxidase

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Acknowledgements

The authors express deep gratitude to Director CSIR-CIMAP for providing platform for experiment and Dr. Ajay Kohli for manuscript editing. Pooja Singh also thankful to the network project of CSIR (ChemBio-BSC 203) for given that the monetary support and AcSIR for academic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biotechnology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, P.O. CIMAP, Picnic Spot Road, Lucknow, U.P, 226015, India

    Pooja Singh, Basant Kumar Dubey, Ashish Chandran & Laiq ur Rahman

  2. CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Lucknow, 226015, India

    Pooja Singh

  3. Microbial Technology Departments, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, P.O. CIMAP, Picnic Spot Road, Lucknow, U.P, 226015, India

    Shiv Shanker Pandey & Deepti Barnawal

  4. Plant Molecular Virology Laboratory, CPMB Division, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, U.P, 226001, India

    Rashmi Raj

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  1. Pooja Singh
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Contributions

PS has done the experimentation, data analysis and manuscript preparation. DB provides the strain of Achromobacter xylosoxidans having ACC deaminase gene and revised the calculation of ACC content. SSP helped in physiological study. BKD help in gas chromatography experiment. AC help in some part of experiment. R cooperated in southern blot analysis. LUR provides the concept of experiment, interpretation and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Laiq ur Rahman.

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Singh, P., Pandey, S.S., Dubey, B.K. et al. Salt and drought stress tolerance with increased biomass in transgenic Pelargonium graveolens through heterologous expression of ACC deaminase gene from Achromobacter xylosoxidans. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 147, 297–311 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-021-02124-0

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