期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1998
卷号：95
期号：16
页码：9681-9686
DOI：10.1073/pnas.95.16.9681
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Calcineurin (CaN) is a Ca2+- and calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase (PP2B) that, in yeast, is an integral intermediate of a salt-stress signal transduction pathway that effects NaCl tolerance through the regulation of Na+ influx and efflux. A truncated form of the catalytic subunit and the regulatory subunit of yeast CaN were coexpressed in transgenic tobacco plants to reconstitute a constitutively activated phosphatase in vivo. Several different transgenic lines that expressed activated CaN also exhibited substantial NaCl tolerance, and this trait was linked to the genetic inheritance of the CaN transgenes. Enhanced capacity of plants expressing CaN to survive NaCl shock was similar when evaluation was conducted on seedlings in tissue culture raft vessels or plants in hydroponic culture that were transpiring actively. Root growth was less perturbed than shoot growth by NaCl in plants expressing CaN. Also, NaCl stress survival of control shoots was enhanced substantially when grafted onto roots of plants expressing CaN, further implicating a significant function of the phosphatase in the preservation of root integrity during salt shock. Together, these results indicate that in plants, like in yeast, a Ca2+- and calmodulin-dependent CaN signal pathway regulates determinants of salt tolerance required for stress adaptation. Furthermore, modulation of this pathway by expression of an activated regulatory intermediate substantially enhanced salt tolerance.
