Expression of fungal pectin methylesterase in transgenic tobacco leads to alteration in cell wall metabolism and a dwarf phenotype

Journal of Biotechnology
Tomohisa HasunumaAkio Kobayashi

Abstract

A transgenic tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum L.) expressing a fungal pectin methylesterase (PME; EC 3.1.1.11) gene derived from a black filamentous fungus, Aspergillus niger was created. Fungal PME should have a wider range of adaptability to substrate pectin compared with plant PME. As expected, the proportion of methyl esters in pectin was reduced in the transgenic tobacco. Consequently, the transgenic plant showed short internodes, small leaves and a dwarf phenotype. At a cellular level, the longitudinal lengths of stem epidermal cells were shorter than those of control plants. This is the first report that fungal PME promotes dwarfism in plants. It is worth noting that in the PME-expressing dwarf plant, the expression levels of cell wall metabolism related genes that included endo-1,4-beta-glucanase, cellulose synthase, endo-xyloglucan transferase and expansin gene were decreased. These results suggest that the expression of fungal PME in plants affects the cell wall metabolism.

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Citations

Jun 16, 2010·Plant Physiology·Stephane Herbette, Herve Cochard
May 9, 2012·PloS One·Yuri L DorokhovYuri Y Gleba
Jul 25, 2014·Journal of Experimental Botany·Fabien SénéchalJérôme Pelloux
Jan 29, 2008·Annals of Botany·Danuta SoleckaAlina Kacperska
Nov 27, 2018·Frontiers in Plant Science·Yuri L DorokhovTatiana V Komarova
May 6, 2014·Biochemistry. Biokhimii︠a︡·T V KomarovaY L Dorokhov

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