Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2012, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (1): 44-54.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1259.2012.00044

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Cloning and Expression of a Gene Encoding a Raffinose Synthase in the Resurrection Plant Boea hygrometrica

Zhi Wang1,2, Yongxiu Liu2, Jianhua Wei1*, Xin Deng3*   

  1. 1Beijing Agro-Biotechnology Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Science, Beijing 100097, China

    2Beijing Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China;

    3Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
  • Received:2011-07-15 Revised:2011-10-12 Online:2012-01-01 Published:2012-01-16
  • Contact: Jianhua Wei; Xin Deng

Abstract: Resurrection plants are a valuable resource for understanding the mechanisms of dehydration tolerance and for mining candidate genes that can be used to improve drought tolerance in crops. Here, we determined the contents of galactinol, raffinose and stachyose in dehydrated and rehydrated leaves of a resurrection plant Boea hygrometrica. We cloned a dehydration-inducible gene encoding a raffinose synthase from B. hygrometrica and found that BhRFS was upregulated by cold (4°C), high salt (200 mmol·L–1NaCl), and abscisic acid (ABA, 100 μmol·L–1) but downregulated by high temperature (37°C) and not affected by H2O2 (200 μmol·L–1). BhRFS may function in responce to various abiotic stresses, possibly regulated by ABA-dependent signal pathways, therefore it is a good candidate gene for plant breeding to enhance plant stress tolerance.