Improvement of drought tolerance by overexpressing MdATG18a is mediated by modified antioxidant system and activated autophagy in transgenic apple.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy is a major and conserved pathway for delivering and recycling unwanted proteins or damaged organelles to be degraded in the vacuoles. AuTophaGy-related (ATG) protein 18a has been established as one of the essential components for autophagy occurrence in Arabidopsis thaliana. We previously cloned the ATG18a homolog from Malus domestica (MdATG18a) and monitored its responsiveness to various abiotic stresses at the transcriptional level. However, it is still unclear what its function is under abiotic stress in apple. Here, we found that heterologous expression of MdATG18a in tomato plants markedly enhanced their tolerance to drought. Overexpression (OE) of that gene in apple plants improved their drought tolerance as well. Under drought conditions, the photosynthesis rate and antiox

SUBMITTER: Sun X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5787838 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature