Investigation of the response to salinity of transgenic potato plants overexpressing the transcription factor StERF94.

In this study, transgenic potato plants overexpressing StERF94 were produced and submitted to salt treatment (100 mM NaCl) in vitro and under greenhouse culture conditions. StERF94 transgenic lines showed lower decrease of stem elongation under salt treatment in comparison to non-transgenic wild-type plants. Moreover, these plants showed a low level of H2O2 and Malondialdehyde content, and an increase in catalase and GPX (Gluthation peroxidase) activities compared to non-transgenic plants. In a second step, enhanced expression of some target genes for example CuZn-SOD, DHN25 (Dehydrin) and ERD (Early Responsive to Dehydration) was noted in the StERF94 transgenic plants, submitted to salt treatment. The StERF94 factor was also involved in the activation of osmoprotectant synthesis. Taken together, all these data suggest that overexpression of the StERF94 transcription factor increases the tolerance of potato plants to salinity by improving plant growth, osmoprotectant synthesis and antioxidant activityleading to low oxidative stress damage. PMID: 31894122 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Journal of Biosciences - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Tags: J Biosci Source Type: research