Stress response of plant H+-PPase-expressing transgenic Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A potentially useful mechanism for the development of stress-tolerant organisms

Ho Sung Yoon, Saeng Young Kim, Il Sup Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

The simple proton-translocating inorganic pyrophosphatase (H+-PPase) found in plants and protists is an evolutionally conserved, essential enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of pyrophosphate (PPi). Little is known about the functional contribution of H+-PPase to the cellular response to abiotic stresses, except its high salinity and drought stress. To investigate the role of H+-PPase during response to cellular stress, we isolated the cDNA of Arabidopsis thaliana H+-PPase (AVP1) and Oryza sativa H+-PPase (OVP1) and constructed transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli lines that express AVP1 and OVP1. In S. cerevisiae, the expression of a chimeric derivative of the AVP1 and OVP1 alleviated the phenotype associated with ipp2-deficient cells in the presence of high salinity (NaCl) and metal stressors (Cd, Mn, and Zn). In E. coli, AVP1 and OVP1 overexpression conferred enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses, including heat shock and H2O2, as well as NaCl, Cd, Mn, Zn, Ca, and Al. Interestingly, AVP1 and OVP1 overexpression resulted in hypersensitivity to menadione and cobalt. These results demonstrate the cellular capacity of AVP1- and OVP1-expressing transgenic yeast and E. coli in response to physiological, abiotic stresses. Moreover, our results suggest new ways of engineering stress-tolerant plants that are capable of responding to climate change. Here, we provide an outline of an experimental system to examine the alternative roles of plant H+-PPase.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)129-133
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Applied Genetics
Volume54
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2013

Keywords

  • Escherichia coli
  • Heterologous expression
  • Inorganic pyrophosphatase
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • Stress response

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