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Ascorbate (AsA) is very important in scavenging reactive oxygen species in plants. AsA can reduce photoinhibition by xanthophyll cycle to dissipate excess excitation energy. GGP is an important enzyme in AsA biosynthesis pathway in higher plants. In this study, we cloned a gene, SlGGP-LIKE, that has the same function but different sequence compared with SlGGP. The function of SlGGP-LIKE gene in response to oxidative stress was investigated using transgenic tobacco plants overexpressed SlGGP-LIKE under methyl viologen treatment. After oxidative stress treatment, transgenic tobacco lines exhibited higher levels of reduced AsA content and APX activity than WT plants. Under oxidative stress, transgenic tobacco plants accumulated less ROS and exhibited lower degrees of REC and MDA. Consequently, relatively higher levels of Pn, Fv/Fm, de-epoxidation status of xanthophyll cycle and D1 protein were maintained in transgenic tobacco plants. Hence, overexpression of SlGGP-LIKE gene enhances AsA biosynthesis and can alleviate the photoinhibition of PSII under oxidative stress., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

The NAC proteins are the largest transcription factors in plants. The functions of NACs are various and we focus on their roles in response to abiotic stress here. In our study, a typical NAC gene (SlNAM1) is isolated from tomato and its product is located in the nucleus. It also has a transcriptional activity region situated in C-terminal. The expression levels of SlNAM1 in tomato were induced by 4°C, PEG, NaCl, abscisic acid (ABA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments. The function of SlNAM1 in response to chilling stress has been investigated. SlNAM1 overexpression in tobacco exhibited higher germination rates, minor wilting, and higher photosynthetic rates (Pn) under chilling stress. Meanwhile, overexpression of SlNAM1 improved the osmolytes contents and reduced the H 2 O 2 and O 2 •- contents under low temperature, which contribute to alleviating the oxidative damage of cell membrane after chilling stress. Moreover, the transcripts of NtDREB1, NtP5CS, and NtERD10s were higher in transgenic tobacco, and those increased expressions may confer higher chilling tolerance of transgenic plants. These results indicated that overexpression of SlNAM1 could improve chilling stress tolerance of transgenic tobacco., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Various studies have confirmed that the CBF (C-repeat binding factor) family of transcription factors has a key role in regulating many plants' responses to cold stress. Here we isolated CBF3 from sweet pepper (Capsicum frutescens). Green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein of CfCBF3 was targeted to the nucleus of the onion epidermis cell. RNA gel blot analysis indicated that CfCBF3 was expressed in leaves of sweet pepper and the expression was induced by low temperature, drought and salinity stresses but not by ABA. Overexpression of CfCBF3 under the control of the CaMV35S promoter in tobacco induced expression of orthologs of CBF3-targeted genes and increased chilling tolerance without a dwarf phenotype. Indeed it also led to multiple biochemical and physiological changes associated with chilling stress. Higher levels of proline (Pro) and soluble sugars and lower content of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were observed in transgenic plants. Our results demonstrated that the increase in total unsaturated fatty acids, especially in phosphatidylglycerol (PG) was detected by overexpression of CfCBF3. During exposure to chilling stress, the transgenic lines were less susceptible to chilling-induced photoinhibition than wild-type (WT) plants. These results suggest that overexpression of CfCBF3 led to modification of the fatty acid unsaturation and alleviated the injuries under chilling stress., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)