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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 34(4)

Response of mannitol-producing Arabidopsis thaliana to abiotic stress

Christine M. Sickler A , Gerald E. Edwards A , Olavi Kiirats A , Zhifang Gao B and Wayne Loescher B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Biological Sciences and Center for Integrated Biotechnology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4236, USA.

B Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 1325, USA.

C Corresponding author. Email: loescher@msu.edu

D This paper originates from an International Symposium in Memory of Vincent R. Franceschi, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA, June 2006.

Functional Plant Biology 34(4) 382-391 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP06274
Submitted: 27 October 2006  Accepted: 15 February 2007   Published: 19 April 2007

Abstract

In celery, mannitol is a primary photosynthetic product that is associated with celery’s exceptional salt tolerance. Arabidopsis plants transformed with celery’s mannose-6-phosphate reductase (M6PR) gene produce mannitol and grow normally in the absence of stress. Daily analysis of the increase in growth (fresh and dry weight, leaf number, leaf area per plant and specific leaf weight) over a 12-day period showed less effect of salt (100 mm NaCl) on the M2 transformant than wild type (WT). Following a 12-day treatment of WT, M2 and M5 plants with 100 or 200 mm NaCl the total shoot fresh weight, leaf number, and leaf area were significantly greater in transformants than in WT plants. The efficiency of use of energy for photochemistry by PSII was measured daily under growth conditions. In WT plants treated with 100 mm NaCl, the PSII yield begin decreasing after 6 days with a 50% loss in yield after 12 days, indicating a severe loss in PSII efficiency; whereas, there was no effect on the transformants. Under atmospheric levels of CO2, growth with 200 mm NaCl caused an increase in the substomatal levels of CO2 in WT plants but not in transformants. It also caused a marked decrease in carboxylation efficiency under limiting levels of CO2 in WT compared with transformants. When stress was imposed and growth reduced by withholding water for 12 days, which resulted in a similar decrease in relative water content to salt-treated plants, there were no differences among the genotypes in PSII yields or growth. The results suggest mannitol, which is known to be a compatible solute and antioxidant, protects photosynthesis against salt-related damage to chloroplasts.

Additional keywords: osmoprotectant, photosynthesis, salinity, salt, transgenic.


Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by USDA CSREES Grant 2005-39454-16516 to WL and by NSF Grant IBN-0236959 to GE. We appreciate the help of Dr E. Voznesenskaya in preparation of the figures.


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