Biochemical analysis of transgenic arabidopsis overexpressing GmNAC109 based on antioxidant enzyme activities and cellular hydrogen peroxide content under drought condition

Abstract

Abiotic stress is one of the most serious causes that pose a detrimental impact on the growth and survival of plants. The plant-specific NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) transcription factors have been suggested to play important roles in the regulation of the transcriptional activities associated with plant stress responses. Soybean (Glycine max) GmNAC109 has been recently demonstrated for its importance in enhancing the post-drought survival in transgenic Arabidopsis plants ectopically expressing this gene. In this study, several comparisons of biochemical characteristics were carried out between these GmNAC109-transgenic Arabidopsis lines and the wild-type plants. According to the data analysis, upon drought stress, the transgenic Arabidopsis had lower hydrogen peroxide contents and higher activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and catalase than those in the non-transgenic counterparts. These results indicated that the higher antioxidant capacity in the transgenic Arabidopsis partially attributed to the better plant tolerance under water-deficit stress conditions, which is related to the regulation of GmNAC109 on activities of reactive oxygen species – scavenging enzymes.