The Functional Study of StDREB4 Gene in Response to Salt and Drought Stress in Potato

doi:10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2025-1062

Abstract

Abstract:

Objective Studying the relationship between the CBF/DREB1 family members and the salt tolerance and drought tolerance may provide scientific references for breeding new potato germplasms with excellent stress resistance. Method The expression patterns of potato CBF/DREB1 family members under salt and drought stresses were detected by RT-qPCR technology, and the key gene was screened. Potato transgenic lines with overexpression and knockdown expression were constructed to detect the function of the key gene in response to salt and drought stresses. Meanwhile, the action mechanism of the key gene was analyzed by detecting subcellular localization and screening the interaction proteins. Result Based on the RT-qPCR detection results, the StDREB4 gene was selected as the research object for functional analysis. The results of growth phenotype and physicochemical index detection showed that the overexpressing lines had more obvious phenotypic and index changes. Under salt stress, the overexpression of StDREB4 reduced the root length, fresh weight, root activity, photosynthetic capacity, antioxidant capacity and osmotic regulatory substance content of plants, as well as increased MDA content, thereby reducing the tolerance of potatoes to salt. However, under drought stress, the relevant indicators of plants overexpressing StDREB4 were superior to those of wild-type lines, which enhanced the tolerance of potatoes to drought. In addition, StDREB4 was located in the nucleus and had transcriptional activation activity. Three important interacting proteins, including EBF protein, DSK2A protein and PSMB3 protein, were screened out using yeast two hybrid technology. Conclusion The overexpression of StDREB4 may be involved in the ethylene signaling process through the ubiquitin degradation pathway, regulating multiple physicochemical index parameters, thereby reducing the tolerance of potatoes to salt and enhancing its tolerance to drought.

Key words: Solanum tuberosum, salt stress, drought stress, physical and chemical parameters, yeast two hybrid

LI Wan, WU Ya-qian, WU Fang, ZHAO Yong-ping. The Functional Study of StDREB4 Gene in Response to Salt and Drought Stress in Potato[J]. Biotechnology Bulletin, 2026, 42(6): 53-63.

Figures/Tables 9

Fig. 1 Expression patterns analysis of StDREBs under salt and drought stressesA: Salt stress. B: Drought stress. The internal reference gene is the Ef1α gene. The quantitative data consist of three biological replicates and three technical replicates. “*” indicates significant differences at the P0.05 level

Fig. 2 Effects of StDREB4 on the growth of potatoes under salt and drought stressesA: Growth phenotype. B: Plant height growth, root length and fresh weight accumulation. “*” indicates that the parameter values of transgenic lines are significantly different from those of Desiree (P0.05), the same below

Fig. 3 Effects of StDREB4 on the photosynthetic characteristic indicators of potatoes under salt and drought stresses

Fig. 4 Effects of StDREB4 on the root vitality and MDA content of potatoes under salt and drought stresses

Fig. 5 Effects of StDREB4 on the antioxidant capacity of potatoes under salt and drought stresses

Fig. 6 Effects of StDREB4 on the osmotic regulating substances contents of potatoes under salt and drought stresses

Fig. 7 Effects of StDREB4 on the chloroplast pigment contents of potatoes under salt and drought stressesThe data in the figure was taken as the logarithm of the original data with base 10

Fig. 8 Subcellular localization of StDREB4

Fig. 9 Self-activation detection and interacting proteins screening of StDREB4A: Analysis of transcriptional activation activity of StDREB4. B: Color reaction. The black arrows indicate representative chromogenic colony. C: PCR testing. M: DNA marker, from top to bottom, they are 5 000, 3 000, 2 000, 1 000, 750, 500, 250 and 100 bp, respectively. D: “Point-to-point” verification of StDREB4 and interacting proteins. 1 to 4 refer to different concentrations, which were diluted 1, 10, 100, and 1 000 times in sequence

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