查看更多>>摘要:Nostoc flagelliforme is a terrestrial cyanobacterium that can resist many types of stressors,including drought,ultraviolet radiation,and extreme temperatures.In this study,we identified the drought tolerance gene NfcrtO,which encodes a β-carotene ketolase,through screening the transcriptome of N.flagelliforme under water loss stress.Prokaryotic expression of NfcrtO under 0.6 mol/L sorbitol or under 0.3 mol/L NaCl stress significantly increased the growth rate of Escherichia coli.When NfcrtO was heterologously expressed in rice,the seedling height and root length of NfcrtO-overexpressing rice plants were significantly higher than those of the wild type(WT)plants grown on ½ Murashige and Skoog solid medium with 120 mmol/L mannitol at the seedling stage.Transcriptome analysis revealed that NfcrtO was involved in osmotic stress,antioxidant,and other stress-related pathways.Additionally,the survival rate of the NfcrtO-overexpression lines was significantly higher than that of the WT line under both hydroponic stress(24%PEG and 100 mmol/L H2O2)and soil drought treatment at the seedling stage.Physiological traits,including the activity levels of superoxide dismutase,peroxidase,catalase,total antioxidant capacity,and the contents of proline,trehalose,and soluble sugar,were significantly improved in the NfcrtO-overexpression lines relative to those in the WT line under 20%PEG treatment.Furthermore,when water was withheld at the booting stage,the grain yield per plant of NfcrtO-overexpression lines was significantly higher than that of the WT line.Yeast two-hybrid analysis identified interactions between NfcrtO and Dna J protein,E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase,and pyrophosphate-energized vacuolar membrane proton pump.Thus,heterologous expression of NfcrtO in rice could significantly improve the tolerance of rice to osmotic stress,potentially facilitating the development of new rice varieties.