Arabidopsis thaliana VDAC2 involvement in salt stress response pathway

Abstract

Soil salinity seriously affects plants distribution and yield, while salt stress induces SOS genes, and voltage-dependent anion channels (VDAC) and a mitochondrial porin, are induced too. In this paper, phenotypes of AtVDAC2 transgenic lines and wild type (RLD) were analyzed. It was found that AtVDAC2 over-expressing transgenic plants were more sensitive to NaCl, and produced more H₂O₂ in the NaCl treatment. Also, to find the inner reason, the salt overly sensitive gene 3 (SOS3) expression level was changed with the expression of AtVDAC2. So, it was conjectured that the signal of salt stress response was first sent to AtVDAC2, then AtVDAC2 expression improved, leading to the down-stream signals changes, such as accumulation of H₂O₂ and improved expression of SOS3. So, it was found that in the over-expression of transgenic lines with AtVDAC2 up-regulation, SOS3 expression increased significantly, and in the inhibited-expressing lines, it was vice versa. In summary, AtVDAC2 was involved in salt stress signaling pathway, and it regulated SOS3 gene expression.

Key words: Arabidopsis thaliana, voltage-dependent anion channels (VDAC), salt stress, signaling pathway.