Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2010
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Experimental Botany
Volume
61
Issue
12
First Page
3407
Last Page
3422
DOI
10.1093/jxb/erq161
Abstract
Sulphur is an essential element for plant growth and development as well as for defence against biotic and abiotic stresses. Increasing sulphate utilization efficiency (SUE) is an important issue for crop improvement. Little is known about the genetic determinants of sulphate utilization efficiency. No gain-of-function mutants with improved SUE have been reported to date. Here the isolation and characterization of two low-sulphur-tolerant mutants, sue3 and sue4 are reported using a high-throughput genetic screen where a ‘sulphur-free’ solid medium was devised to give the selection pressure necessary to suppress the growth of the wild-type seedlings. Both mutants showed improved tolerance to low sulphur conditions and well-developed root systems. The mutant phenotype of both sue3 and sue4 was specific to sulphate deficiency and the mutants displayed enhanced tolerance to heavy metal and oxidative stress. Genetic analysis revealed that sue3 was caused by a single recessive nuclear mutation while sue4 was caused by a single dominant nuclear mutation. The recessive locus in sue3 is the previously identifiedVirE2-interacting Protein 1. The dominant locus in sue4 is a function-unknown locus activated by the four enhancers on the T-DNA. The function of SUE3 and SUE4 in low sulphur tolerance was confirmed either by multiple mutant alleles or by recapitulation analysis. Taken together, our results demonstrate that this genetic screen is a reasonable approach to isolate Arabidopsis mutants with improved low sulphur tolerance and potentially with enhanced sulphate utilization efficiency. The two loci identified in sue3 and sue4 should assist in understanding the molecular mechanisms of low sulphur tolerance.
Rights
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright Owner
The Authors
Copyright Date
2010
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Wu, Yu; Zhao, Qing; Gao, Lei; Yu, Xiao-Min; Fang, Ping; Oliver, David J.; and Xiang, Cheng-Bin, "Isolation and characterization of low-sulphur-tolerant mutants of Arabidopsis" (2010). Genetics, Development and Cell Biology Publications. 2.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/gdcb_las_pubs/2
Comments
This article is from Journal of Experimental Botany 61, no. 12 (2010): 3407–3422, doi:10.1093/jxb/erq161.