AUTHOR=Ribeiro Ana P. , de Souza Wagner R. , Martins Polyana K. , Vinecky Felipe , Duarte Karoline E. , Basso Marcos F. , da Cunha Bárbara A. D. B. , Campanha Raquel B. , de Oliveira Patrícia A. , Centeno Danilo C. , Cançado Geraldo M. A. , de Magalhães Jurandir V. , de Sousa Carlos A. F. , Andrade Alan C. , Kobayashi Adilson K. , Molinari Hugo B. C. 

TITLE=Overexpression of BdMATE Gene Improves Aluminum Tolerance in Setaria viridis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2017

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.00865

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2017.00865

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Acidic soils are distributed worldwide, predominantly in tropical and subtropical areas, reaching around 50% of the arable soil. This type of soil strongly reduces crop production, mainly because of the presence of aluminum, which has its solubility increased at low pH levels. A well-known physiological mechanism used by plants to cope with Al stress involves activation of membrane transporters responsible for organic acid anions secretion from the root apex to the rhizosphere, which chelate Al, preventing its absorption by roots. In sorghum, a membrane transporter gene belonging to multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) family was identified and characterized as an aluminum-activated citrate transporter gene responsible for Al tolerance in this crop. <italic>Setaria viridis</italic> is an emerging model for C4 species and it is an important model to validate some genes for further C4 crops transformation, such as sugarcane, maize, and wheat. In the present work, <italic>Setaria viridis</italic> was used as a model plant to overexpress a newly identified MATE gene from <italic>Brachypodium distachyon</italic> (<italic>BdMATE</italic>), closely related to <italic>SbMATE</italic>, for aluminum tolerance assays. Transgenic <italic>S. viridis</italic> plants overexpressing a <italic>BdMATE</italic> presented an improved Al tolerance phenotype, characterized by sustained root growth and exclusion of aluminum from the root apex in transgenic plants, as confirmed by hematoxylin assay. In addition, transgenic plants showed higher root citrate exudation into the rhizosphere, suggesting that Al tolerance improvement in these plants could be related to the chelation of the metal by the organic acid anion. These results suggest that <italic>BdMATE</italic> gene can be used to transform C4 crops of economic importance with improved aluminum tolerance.</p>