Improved water use efficiency and shorter life cycle of Nicotiana tabacum due to modification of guard and vascular companion cells

Severe droughts are predicted for the twenty-first century, which contrast with the increased demand for plant materials. Thus, to sustain future generations, a great challenge is to improve crop yield and water use efficiency (WUE), which is the carbon gained per water lost. Here, expression of mai...

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Published in:	Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 4380 - 14
Main Authors:	Müller, Gabriela L., Lara, María V., Oitaven, Pablo, Andreo, Carlos S., Maurino, Verónica G., Drincovich, María F.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 12-03-2018 Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:	38 631/449/1736 631/449/447/2311 82 Carbon dioxide Carbon Dioxide - metabolism Carbon dioxide fixation Cell cycle Crop yield Dehydration - prevention & control Drought Droughts Exudates Flowering Humanities and Social Sciences Leaves Life Cycle Stages Life cycles Malate Dehydrogenase - metabolism Malic enzyme multidisciplinary NADP Nicotiana - cytology Nicotiana - physiology Nicotiana tabacum Phloem Photosynthesis Plant Leaves - metabolism Plant Stomata Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism Proteomics - methods Science Science (multidisciplinary) Stomata Sugar Water consumption Water use Water use efficiency
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Summary:	Severe droughts are predicted for the twenty-first century, which contrast with the increased demand for plant materials. Thus, to sustain future generations, a great challenge is to improve crop yield and water use efficiency (WUE), which is the carbon gained per water lost. Here, expression of maize NADP-malic enzyme (NADP-ME) in the guard and vascular companion cells of Nicotiana tabacum results in enhanced WUE, earlier flowering and shorter life cycle. Transgenic lines exhibit reduced stomatal aperture than wild-type (WT). Nevertheless, an increased net CO 2 fixation rate is observed, which results in less water consumption and more biomass production per water used. Transgenic lines export sugars to the phloem at higher rate than WT, which leads to higher sugars levels in phloem exudates and veins. Leaf quantitative proteomic profiling revealed drastic differences in proteins related to cell cycle, flowering, hormone signaling and carbon metabolism between transgenic lines and WT. We propose that the increased sugar export from leaves in the transgenic lines alleviates sugar negative feedback on photosynthesis and thus, stomatal closure takes place without a penalty in CO 2 assimilation rate. This results in improved WUE and accelerated overall life cycle, key traits for plant productivity in the near future world.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2045-2322 2045-2322
DOI:	10.1038/s41598-018-22431-5