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Peter Olsson. Photo.

Peter Olsson

Researcher

Peter Olsson. Photo.

Expression of bovine calmodulin in tobacco plants confers faster germination on saline media

Author

  • Peter Olsson
  • Jenny Lindberg
  • Marianne Sommarin
  • Staffan Persson
  • Leif Bülow

Summary, in English

Calmodulin is a Ca2+-dependent regulatory protein in eukaryotic cells involved in a variety of intracellular activities. Many responses to abiotic stresses involve signaling by Ca2+ and Ca2+/calmodulin regulation, including water and salinity stress. To investigate how calmodulin affects germination on media with high concentrations of NaCl, transgenic tobacco plants expressing heterologous calmodulin were generated and characterized. Transgenic tobacco seeds showed significantly shortened germination times on media containing varying salt (120-160 mM) and calcium (3 and 13 mM) concentrations, compared to control seeds. Using media containing 140 mM NaCl and 13 mM CaCl2, the average germination time was shortened by 2-3 days compared to control (P < 0.05). In addition, the germinating transgenic seeds contained higher transient levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid compared to control seeds (P < 0.05). The tobacco Ca2+/calmodulin-regulated glutamate decarboxylase, synthesizing gamma-aminobutyric acid may therefore be stimulated by the heterologous calmodulin. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Department/s

  • Pure and Applied Biochemistry
  • Biochemistry and Structural Biology

Publishing year

2004

Language

English

Pages

1595-1604

Publication/Series

Plant Science

Volume

166

Issue

6

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Biological Sciences
  • Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Keywords

  • NaCl
  • Calcium
  • γ-Amino butyric acid
  • Glutamate decarboxylase
  • Nicotiana tabacum

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0168-9452