RNA-Binding Proteins as Targets to Improve Salt Stress Tolerance in Crops
2020
Sara Rosa Téllez | Rodoldphe Kanhonou | Carlos Castellote Bellés | Ramón Serrano | Paula Alepuz | Roc Ros
Salt stress drastically reduce crop productivity. In order to identify genes that could improve crop salt tolerance, we randomly expressed a cDNA library of the halotolerant sugar beet in a sodium-sensitive yeast strain. We identified six sugar beet genes coding for RNA binding proteins (RBP) able to increase the yeast Na<sup>+</sup>-tolerance. Two of these genes, named <i>Beta vulgaris</i> Salt Tolerant 3 (<i>BvSATO3</i>) and <i>BvU2AF35b</i>, participate in RNA splicing. The other four <i>BvSATO</i> genes (<i>BvSATO1</i>, <i>BvSATO2</i>, <i>BvSATO4</i> and <i>BvSATO6</i>) are putatively involved in other processes of RNA metabolism. <i>BvU2AF35b</i> improved the growth of a wild type yeast strain under salt stress, and also in mutant backgrounds with impaired splicing, thus confirming that splicing is a target of salt toxicity. To validate the yeast approach, we characterized <i>BvSATO1</i> in sugar beet and <i>Arabidopsis</i>. <i>BvSATO1</i> expression was repressed by salt treatment in sugar beet, suggesting that this gene could be a target of salt toxicity. Expression of <i>BvSATO1</i> in <i>Arabidopsis</i> increased the plant salt tolerance. Our results suggest that not only RNA splicing, but RNA metabolic processes such as such as RNA stability or nonsense-mediated mRNA decay may also be affected by salt stress and could be biotechnological targets for crop improvement.
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