Overexpression of a soybean ariadne-like ubiquitin ligase gene GmARI1 enhances aluminum tolerance in Arabidopsis

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 3;9(11):e111120. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111120. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Ariadne (ARI) subfamily of RBR (Ring Between Ring fingers) proteins have been found as a group of putative E3 ubiquitin ligases containing RING (Really Interesting New Gene) finger domains in fruitfly, mouse, human and Arabidopsis. Recent studies showed several RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligases play important roles in plant response to abiotic stresses, but the function of ARI in plants is largely unknown. In this study, an ariadne-like E3 ubiquitin ligase gene was isolated from soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., and designated as GmARI1. It encodes a predicted protein of 586 amino acids with a RBR supra-domain. Subcellular localization studies using Arabidopsis protoplast cells indicated GmARI protein was located in nucleus. The expression of GmARI1 in soybean roots was induced as early as 2-4 h after simulated stress treatments such as aluminum, which coincided with the fact of aluminum toxicity firstly and mainly acting on plant roots. In vitro ubiquitination assay showed GmARI1 protein has E3 ligase activity. Overexpression of GmARI1 significantly enhanced the aluminum tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis. These findings suggest that GmARI1 encodes a RBR type E3 ligase, which may play important roles in plant tolerance to aluminum stress.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aluminum / metabolism*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Arabidopsis / drug effects
  • Arabidopsis / genetics*
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism*
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Enzyme Activation
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Glycine max / genetics*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phenotype
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Growth Regulators / pharmacology
  • Plants, Genetically Modified
  • Protein Transport
  • Salt Tolerance / genetics*
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Stress, Physiological
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / genetics*
  • Ubiquitination

Substances

  • Plant Growth Regulators
  • Aluminum
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Hightech R & D Program of China (2013AA102602), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2011CB1093), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (PCSIRT13073), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0891), the MOE 111 Project (B08025), the Program for High-level Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents in Jiangsu Province, and the Jiangsu Higher Education PAPD Program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision or preparation of the manuscript.