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JcCBF2 gene from Jatropha curcas improves freezing tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana during the early stage of stress

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Abstract

High chilling-susceptibility is becoming the bottleneck for cultivation and commercialization of Jatropha curcas L. For insights to chilling resistance ability of this plant species, a cold response transcription factor, JcCBF2, was cloned and studied. It codes a 26 kDa protein, which contains all conserved motifs unique to the C-repeat binding factor (CBF) family and has high similarity to CBFs of Ricinus communis and Populus. Its transcripts express specifically in leaves of Jatropha at cold temperature. After transmitting the report vector, 35S::JcCBF2-GFP, into Arabidopsis thaliana, JcCBF2 protein is main detected in cell nucleus, being consistent to the nuclear orientation signal in its N-terminal. Compared to the control Arabidopsis, the frozen leaves of JcCBF2-overexpressed seedlings grow stronger with less malondialdehyde, smaller leaf conductivity and activer superoxide dismutase, showing their higher freezing tolerance. RT-PCR tests revealed that JcCBF2 functioned mainly at the early stage (0–6 h) of resistance events in Arabidopsis, and its transcripts reduced after 6 h. In addition, JcCBF2 could quickly regulate transcripts of some cold-responsive (COR) genes such as RD29A, COR105A and COR6.6, also during the early stage of frozen treatment. This study not only proves the chilling resistance roles of JcCBF2, but also presents a candidate gene engineering for improvement of chilling tolerance in J. curcas.

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Abbreviations

CBF:

C-repeat-binding factors

DREB:

Dehydration-responsive element binding factors

COR:

Cold-responsive

AFPs:

Antifreeze proteins

ICE:

Inducer of CBF expression

QRT-PCR:

Quantity RT-PCR

ORF:

Open reading frame

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

AA:

Amino acid

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by National Key Technology R&D Program of 12th Five-Year Plan of China (No. 2011BAD22B08). We are also grateful to Prof. Youliang Peng and Dr. Jun Yang from State Key Laboratory of Mycology Institution of Microbiology Chinese Academy of Sciences for kindly providing the plasmid KNTG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, 24 South Section 1, 1st Ring Road, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Linghui Wang, Jihai Gao, Xiaobo Qin, Xiaodong Shi, Lin Luo, Hongwu Yu, Chenyang Li, Minchao Hu, Qifan Liu, Ying Xu & Fang Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Systematic Research, Development and Utilization of Chinese Medicine Resources, School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 610075, China

    Jihai Gao

  3. Sichuan Natural Resource Institute, Chengdu, 610015, China

    Xiaobo Qin & Guozhen Zhang

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  1. Linghui Wang
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Correspondence to Ying Xu.

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Linghui Wang, Jihai Gao and Xiaobo Qin are the co-first authors.

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Wang, L., Gao, J., Qin, X. et al. JcCBF2 gene from Jatropha curcas improves freezing tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana during the early stage of stress. Mol Biol Rep 42, 937–945 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3831-0

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