Knockout of cyclase-associated protein CAP1 confers tolerance towards salt and osmotic stress in Arabidopsis

Abstract

As a regulator of actin filament turnover, Arabidopsis thaliana CAP1 plays an important role in plant growth and development. Here, we analyzed the phenotypes of two Arabidopsis cap1 mutants: cap1-1 (a T-DNA insertion mutant) and Cas9-CAP1 (generated by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing). Phenotypic analysis demonstrated that loss of CAP1 results in defects in seed germination and seedling morphology, with some seedlings exhibiting one or three cotyledons. The cap1-1 mutant took longer than the wild type to complete its life cycle, but its flowering time was normal, indicating that loss of CAP1 prolongs reproductive but not vegetative growth. Moreover, loss of CAP1 severely reduces seed production in self-pollinated plants, due to disruption of pollen tube elongation. RNA-seq and qRT-PCR analyses demonstrated that CAP1 may be involved in osmotic stress responses. Indeed, the cap1-1 mutant showed increased tolerance of salt and mannitol treatment, indicating that CAP1 plays a negative role in osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Taken together, our results demonstrate that CAP1 functions not only in plant growth and development, but also in Arabidopsis responses to osmotic stress.

Keywords: Actin filaments; Cyclase-associated protein (CAP); Osmotic tolerance; Reproductive growth; Vegetative growth.