AsHSP26.2, a creeping bentgrass chloroplast small heat shock protein positively regulates plant development

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Abstract
Key message The creeping bentgrass small heat shock protein AsHSP26.2 positively regulates plant growth and is a novel candidate for use in crop genetic engineering for enhanced biomass production and grain yield. Abstract Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs), a family of proteins with high level of diversity, significantly influence plant stress tolerance and plant development. We have cloned a creeping bentgrass chloroplast-localized sHSP gene, AsHSP26.2 responsive to IAA, GA and 6-BA stimulation. Transgenic creeping bentgrass overexpressing AsHSP26.2 exhibited significantly enhanced plant growth with increased stolon number and length as well as enlarged leaf blade width and leaf sheath diameters, but inhibited leaf trichomes initiation and development in the abaxial epidermis. These phenotypes are completely opposite to those displayed in the transgenic plants overexpressing AsHSP26.8, another chloroplast sHSP26 isoform that contains additional seven amino acids (AEGQGDG) between the consensus regions III and IV (Sun et al., Plant Cell Environ 44:1769–1787, 2021). Furthermore, AsHSP26.2 overexpression altered phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling transduction, resulting in elevated auxin and gibberellins (GA) accumulation. The results obtained provide novel insights implicating the sHSPs in plant growth and development regulation, and strongly suggest AsHSP26.2 to be a novel candidate for use in crop genetic engineering for enhanced plant biomass production and grain yield.
Funding Information
  • Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (C2021204010)
  • Local Science and Technology Development Fund Projects Guided by the Central Government (236Z6302G)
  • State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation (NCCIR2021ZZ-17)
  • Research Project of Basic Scientific Research Business Fees in Provincial Universities of Hebei Province (KY2022102)
  • Outstanding Youth Fund of Hebei Natural Science Foundation (C2022204010)
  • National Institute of Food and Agriculture (2019-33522-30102, 2021-33522-35342)

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