Overexpression of GsCBRLK from Glycine soja enhances tolerance to salt stress in transgenic alfalfa (Medicago sativa)

Insights into the regulation of wild soybean tolerance to salt-alkaline stress

Soybean is an important grain and oil crop. In China, there is a great contradiction between soybean supply and demand. China has around 100 million ha of salt-alkaline soil, and at least 10 million could be potentially developed for cultivated land. Therefore, it is an effective way to improve soybean production by breeding salt-alkaline-tolerant soybean cultivars. Compared with wild soybean, cultivated soybean has lost a large number of important genes related to environmental adaptation during the long-term domestication and improvement process. Therefore, it is greatly important to identify the salt-alkaline tolerant genes in wild soybean, and investigate the molecular basis of wild soybean tolerance to salt-alkaline stress. In this review, we summarized the current research regarding the salt-alkaline stress response in wild soybean. The genes involved in the ion balance and ROS scavenging in wild soybean were summarized. Meanwhile, we also introduce key protein kinases and transcription factors that were reported to mediate the salt-alkaline stress response in wild soybean. The findings summarized here will facilitate the molecular breeding of salt-alkaline tolerant soybean cultivars.

Salt stress proteins in plants: An overview

Salinity stress is considered the most devastating abiotic stress for crop productivity. Accumulating different types of soluble proteins has evolved as a vital strategy that plays a central regulatory role in the growth and development of plants subjected to salt stress. In the last two decades, efforts have been undertaken to critically examine the genome structure and functions of the transcriptome in plants subjected to salinity stress. Although genomics and transcriptomics studies indicate physiological and biochemical alterations in plants, it do not reflect changes in the amount and type of proteins corresponding to gene expression at the transcriptome level. In addition, proteins are a more reliable determinant of salt tolerance than simple gene expression as they play major roles in shaping physiological traits in salt-tolerant phenotypes. However, little information is available on salt stress-responsive proteins and their possible modes of action in conferring salinity stress tolerance. In addition, a complete proteome profile under normal or stress conditions has not been established yet for any model plant species. Similarly, a complete set of low abundant and key stress regulatory proteins in plants has not been identified. Furthermore, insufficient information on post-translational modifications in salt stress regulatory proteins is available. Therefore, in recent past, studies focused on exploring changes in protein expression under salt stress, which will complement genomic, transcriptomic, and physiological studies in understanding mechanism of salt tolerance in plants. This review focused on recent studies on proteome profiling in plants subjected to salinity stress, and provide synthesis of updated literature about how salinity regulates various salt stress proteins involved in the plant salt tolerance mechanism. This review also highlights the recent reports on regulation of salt stress proteins using transgenic approaches with enhanced salt stress tolerance in crops.

Transcriptomic analysis of differentially expressed genes in leaves and roots of two alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) cultivars with different salt tolerance

BACKGROUND

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) production decreases under salt stress. Identification of genes associated with salt tolerance in alfalfa is essential for the development of molecular markers used for breeding and genetic improvement.

RESULT

An RNA-Seq technique was applied to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with salt stress in two alfalfa cultivars: salt tolerant 'Halo' and salt intolerant 'Vernal'. Leaf and root tissues were sampled for RNA extraction at 0 h, 3 h, and 27 h under 12 dS m^- 1 salt stress maintained by NaCl. The sequencing generated a total of 381 million clean sequence reads and 84.8% were mapped on to the alfalfa reference genome. A total of 237 DEGs were identified in leaves and 295 DEGs in roots of the two alfalfa cultivars. In leaf tissue, the two cultivars had a similar number of DEGs at 3 h and 27 h of salt stress, with 31 and 49 DEGs for 'Halo', 34 and 50 for 'Vernal', respectively. In root tissue, 'Halo' maintained 55 and 56 DEGs at 3 h and 27 h, respectively, while the number of DEGs decreased from 42 to 10 for 'Vernal'. This differential expression pattern highlights different genetic responses of the two cultivars to salt stress at different time points. Interestingly, 28 (leaf) and 31 (root) salt responsive candidate genes were highly expressed in 'Halo' compared to 'Vernal' under salt stress, of which 13 candidate genes were common for leaf and root tissues. About 60% of DEGs were assigned to known gene ontology (GO) categories. The genes were involved in transmembrane protein function, photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, defense against oxidative damage, cell wall modification and protection against lipid peroxidation. Ion binding was found to be a key molecular activity for salt tolerance in alfalfa under salt stress.

CONCLUSION

The identified DEGs are significant for understanding the genetic basis of salt tolerance in alfalfa. The generated genomic information is useful for molecular marker development for alfalfa genetic improvement for salt tolerance.

Wild soybean SNARE proteins BET1s mediate the subcellular localization of the cytoplasmic receptor-like kinases CRCK1s to modulate salt stress responses

Plants have evolved numerous receptor-like kinases (RLKs) that modulate environmental stress responses. However, little is known regarding soybean (Glycine max) RLKs. We have previously identified that Glycine soja Ca2+ /CAM-binding RLK (GsCBRLK) is involved in salt tolerance. Here, we report that soluble NSF attachment protein receptor proteins BET1s mediate subcellular localization of calmodulin-binding receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases CRCK1s to modulate salt stress responses. Direct interaction between GsCBRLK and GsBET11a was initially identified via yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays. Further analysis demonstrated conserved interaction between BET1s and CRCK1s. GsCBRLK interacted with all BET1 proteins in wild soybean (Glycine soja) and Arabidopsis, and GsBET11a strongly associated with GsCRCK1a-1d, but slightly with AtCRCK1. In addition, GsBET11a interacted with GsCBRLK via its C-terminal transmembrane domain (TMD), where the entire TMD, not the sequence, was critical for the interaction. Moreover, the N-terminal variable domain (VD) of GsCBRLK was responsible for interacting with GsBET11a, and the intensity of interaction between GsCBRLK/AtCRCK1 and GsBET11a was dependent on VD. Furthermore, GsBET11a was able to mediate the GsCBRLK subcellular localization via direct interaction with VD. Additionally, knockout of AtBET11 or AtBET12 individually did not alter GsCBRLK localization, while GsBET11a expression caused partial internalization of GsCBRLK from the plasma membrane (PM). We further suggest the necessity of GsCBRLK VD for its PM localization via N-terminal truncation assays. Finally, GsBET11a was shown to confer enhanced salt stress tolerance when overexpressed in Arabidopsis and soybean. These results revealed the conserved and direct interaction between BET1s and CRCK1s, and suggested their involvement in salt stress responses.

Grain Legumes and Fear of Salt Stress: Focus on Mechanisms and Management Strategies

Salinity is an ever-present major constraint and a major threat to legume crops, particularly in areas with irrigated agriculture. Legumes demonstrate high sensitivity, especially during vegetative and reproductive phases. This review gives an overview of legumes sensitivity to salt stress (SS) and mechanisms to cope with salinity stress under unfavorable conditions. It also focuses on the promising management approaches, i.e., agronomic practices, breeding approaches, and genome editing techniques to improve performance of legumes under SS. Now, the onus is on researchers to comprehend the plants physiological and molecular mechanisms, in addition to various responses as part of their stress tolerance strategy. Due to their ability to fix biological nitrogen, high protein contents, dietary fiber, and essential mineral contents, legumes have become a fascinating group of plants. There is an immense need to develop SS tolerant legume varieties to meet growing demand of protein worldwide. This review covering crucial areas ranging from effects, mechanisms, and management strategies, may elucidate further the ways to develop SS-tolerant varieties and to produce legume crops in unfavorable environments.

Ectopic Expression of GsSRK in Medicago sativa Reveals Its Involvement in Plant Architecture and Salt Stress Responses

Receptor-like kinases (RLK) play fundamental roles in plant growth and stress responses. Compared with other RLKs, little information is provided concerning the S-locus LecRLK subfamily, which is characterized by an extracellular G-type lectin domain and an S-locus-glycop domain. Until now, the function of the G-type lectin domain is still unknown. In a previous research, we identified a Glycine soja S-locus LecRLK gene GsSRK, which conferred increased salt stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. In this study, to investigate the role of the G-type lectin domain and to breed transgenic alfalfa with superior salt stress tolerance, we transformed the full-length GsSRK (GsSRK-f) and a truncated version of GsSRK (GsSRK-t) deleting the G-type lectin domain into alfalfa. Our results showed that overexpression of GsSRK-t, but not GsSRK-f, resulted in changes of plant architecture, as evidenced by more branches but shorter shoots of GsSRK-t transgenic alfalfa, indicating a potential role of the extracellular G-type lectin domain in regulating plant architecture. Furthermore, we also found that transgenic alfalfa overexpressing either GsSRK-f or GsSRK-t showed increased salt stress tolerance, and GsSRK-t transgenic alfalfa displayed better growth (more branches and higher fresh weight) than GsSRK-f lines under salt stress. In addition, our results suggested that both GsSRK-f and GsSRK-t were involved in ion homeostasis, ROS scavenging, and osmotic regulation. Under salt stress, the Na+ content in the transgenic lines was significantly lower, while the K+ content was slightly higher than that in WT. Moreover, the transgenic lines displayed reduced ion leakage and MDA content, but increased SOD activity and proline content than WT. Notably, no obvious difference in these physiological indices was observed between GsSRK-f and GsSRK-t transgenic lines, implying that deletion of the GsSRK G-type lectin domain does not affect its physiological function in salt stress responses. In conclusion, results in this research reveal the dual role of GsSRK in regulating both plant architecture and salt stress responses.

Effects, tolerance mechanisms and management of salt stress in grain legumes

Salt stress is an ever-present threat to crop yields, especially in countries with irrigated agriculture. Efforts to improve salt tolerance in crop plants are vital for sustainable crop production on marginal lands to ensure future food supplies. Grain legumes are a fascinating group of plants due to their high grain protein contents and ability to fix biological nitrogen. However, the accumulation of excessive salts in soil and the use of saline groundwater are threatening legume production worldwide. Salt stress disturbs photosynthesis and hormonal regulation and causes nutritional imbalance, specific ion toxicity and osmotic effects in legumes to reduce grain yield and quality. Understanding the responses of grain legumes to salt stress and the associated tolerance mechanisms, as well as assessing management options, may help in the development of strategies to improve the performance of grain legumes under salt stress. In this manuscript, we discuss the effects, tolerance mechanisms and management of salt stress in grain legumes. The principal inferences of the review are: (i) salt stress reduces seed germination (by up to more than 50%) either by inhibiting water uptake and/or the toxic effect of ions in the embryo, (ii) salt stress reduces growth (by more than 70%), mineral uptake, and yield (by 12-100%) due to ion toxicity and reduced photosynthesis, (iii) apoplastic acidification is a good indicator of salt stress tolerance, (iv) tolerance to salt stress in grain legumes may develop through excretion and/or compartmentalization of toxic ions, increased antioxidant capacity, accumulation of compatible osmolytes, and/or hormonal regulation, (v) seed priming and nutrient management may improve salt tolerance in grain legumes, (vi) plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may help to improve salt tolerance due to better plant nutrient availability, and (vii) the integration of screening, innovative breeding, and the development of transgenics and crop management strategies may enhance salt tolerance and yield in grain legumes on salt-affected soils.

A Glycine soja methionine sulfoxide reductase B5a interacts with the Ca(2+) /CAM-binding kinase GsCBRLK and activates ROS signaling under carbonate alkaline stress

Although research has extensively illustrated the molecular basis of plant responses to salt and high-pH stresses, knowledge on carbonate alkaline stress is poor and the specific responsive mechanism remains elusive. We have previously characterized a Glycine soja Ca(2+) /CAM-dependent kinase GsCBRLK that could increase salt tolerance. Here, we characterize a methionine sulfoxide reductase (MSR) B protein GsMSRB5a as a GsCBRLK interactor by using Y2H and BiFc assays. Further analyses showed that the N-terminal variable domain of GsCBRLK contributed to the GsMSRB5a interaction. Y2H assays also revealed the interaction specificity of GsCBRLK with the wild soybean MSRB subfamily proteins, and determined that the BoxI/BoxII-containing regions within GsMSRBs were responsible for their interaction. Furthermore, we also illustrated that the N-terminal basic regions in GsMSRBs functioned as transit peptides, which targeted themselves into chloroplasts and thereby prevented their interaction with GsCBRLK. Nevertheless, deletion of these regions allowed them to localize on the plasma membrane (PM) and interact with GsCBRLK. In addition, we also showed that GsMSRB5a and GsCBRLK displayed overlapping tissue expression specificity and coincident expression patterns under carbonate alkaline stress. Phenotypic experiments demonstrated that GsMSRB5a and GsCBRLK overexpression in Arabidopsis enhanced carbonate alkaline stress tolerance. Further investigations elucidated that GsMSRB5a and GsCBRLK inhibited reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation by modifying the expression of ROS signaling, biosynthesis and scavenging genes. Summarily, our results demonstrated that GsCBRLK and GsMSRB5a interacted with each other, and activated ROS signaling under carbonate alkaline stress.

A novel Glycine soja cysteine proteinase inhibitor GsCPI14, interacting with the calcium/calmodulin-binding receptor-like kinase GsCBRLK, regulated plant tolerance to alkali stress

It has been well demonstrated that cystatins regulated plant stress tolerance through inhibiting the cysteine proteinase activity under environmental stress. However, there was limited information about the role of cystatins in plant alkali stress response, especially in wild soybean. Here, in this study, we focused on the biological characterization of a novel Glycine soja cystatin protein GsCPI14, which interacted with the calcium/calmodulin-binding receptor-like kinase GsCBRLK and positively regulated plant alkali stress tolerance. The protein-protein interaction between GsCBRLK and GsCPI14 was confirmed by using split-ubiquitin based membrane yeast two-hybrid analysis and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay. Expression of GsCPI14 was greatly induced by salt, ABA and alkali stress in G. soja, and GsCBRLK overexpression (OX) in Glycine max promoted the stress induction of GmCPI14 expression under stress conditions. Furthermore, we found that GsCPI14-eGFP fusion protein localized in the entire Arabidopsis protoplast and onion epidermal cell, and GsCPI14 showed ubiquitous expression in different tissues of G. soja. In addition, we gave evidence that the GST-GsCPI14 fusion protein inhibited the proteolytic activity of papain in vitro. At last, we demonstrated that OX of GsCPI14 in Arabidopsis promoted the seed germination under alkali stress, as evidenced by higher germination rates. GsCPI14 transgenic Arabidopsis seedlings also displayed better growth performance and physiological index under alkali stress. Taken together, results presented in this study demonstrated that the G. soja cysteine proteinase inhibitor GsCPI14 interacted with the calcium/calmodulin-binding receptor-like kinase GsCBRLK and regulated plant tolerance to alkali stress.

A Glycine soja 14-3-3 protein GsGF14o participates in stomatal and root hair development and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

It is well established that 14-3-3 proteins are key regulators of multiple stress signal transduction cascades. However, the biological functions of soybean 14-3-3 proteins, especially in plant drought response, are not yet known. In this study, we characterized a Glycine soja 14-3-3 gene, GsGF14o, which is involved in plant development and drought response. GsGF14o expression was greatly induced by drought stress, as evidenced by the quantitative real-time PCR and β-glucuronidase (GUS) activity analysis. GsGF14o overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in decreased drought tolerance during seed germination and seedling growth. Furthermore, silencing of AtGF14µ, the most homologous 14-3-3 gene of GsGF14o, led to enhanced drought tolerance at both the seed germination and seedling stage. Unexpectedly, GsGF14o transgenic lines showed reduced water loss and transpiration rates compared with wild-type plants, which was demonstrated to be the consequence of the decreased stomatal size. At the same time, the smaller stomata due to GsGF14o overexpression led to a relatively slow net photosynthesis rate, which led to a growth penalty under drought stress. We further demonstrated that GsGF14o overexpression caused deficits in root hair formation and development, and thereby reduced the water intake capacity of the transgenic root system. In addition, GsGF14o overexpression down-regulated the transcript levels of drought-responsive marker genes. Finally, we also investigated the tissue-specific accumulation of GsGF14o by using a GUS activity assay. Collectively, the results presented here confirm that GsGF14o plays a dual role in drought stress responses through its involvement in the regulation of stomatal size and root hair development.