TY - JOUR AU - Yi, So Young AU - Ku, Seong Sub AU - Sim, Hee-Jung AU - Kim, Sang-Kyu AU - Park, Ji Hyun AU - Lyu, Jae Il AU - So, Eun Jin AU - Choi, So Yeon AU - Kim, Jonghyun AU - Ahn, Myung Suk AU - Kim, Suk Weon AU - Park, Hyunwoo AU - Jeong, Won Joong AU - Lim, Yong Pyo AU - Min, Sung Ran AU - Liu, Jang Ryol PY - 2017 M3 - Original Research TI - An Alcohol Dehydrogenase Gene from Synechocystis sp. Confers Salt Tolerance in Transgenic Tobacco JO - Frontiers in Plant Science UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.01965 VL - 8 SN - 1664-462X N2 - Synechocystis salt-responsive gene 1 (sysr1) was engineered for expression in higher plants, and gene construction was stably incorporated into tobacco plants. We investigated the role of Sysr1 [a member of the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) superfamily] by examining the salt tolerance of sysr1-overexpressing (sysr1-OX) tobacco plants using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and bioassays. The sysr1-OX plants exhibited considerably increased ADH activity and tolerance to salt stress conditions. Additionally, the expression levels of several stress-responsive genes were upregulated. Moreover, airborne signals from salt-stressed sysr1-OX plants triggered salinity tolerance in neighboring wild-type (WT) plants. Therefore, Sysr1 enhanced the interconversion of aldehydes to alcohols, and this occurrence might affect the quality of green leaf volatiles (GLVs) in sysr1-OX plants. Actually, the Z-3-hexenol level was approximately twofold higher in sysr1-OX plants than in WT plants within 1–2 h of wounding. Furthermore, analyses of WT plants treated with vaporized GLVs indicated that Z-3-hexenol was a stronger inducer of stress-related gene expression and salt tolerance than E-2-hexenal. The results of the study suggested that increased C6 alcohol (Z-3-hexenol) induced the expression of resistance genes, thereby enhancing salt tolerance of transgenic plants. Our results revealed a role for ADH in salinity stress responses, and the results provided a genetic engineering strategy that could improve the salt tolerance of crops. ER -