Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2013, 14(3), 5899-5919; doi:10.3390/ijms14035899
Article

A Rice Immunophilin Gene, OsFKBP16-3, Confers Tolerance to Environmental Stress in Arabidopsis and Rice

Hyun Ji Park 1,† email, Sang Sook Lee 1,† email, Young Nim You 1 email, Dae Hwa Yoon 1,2 email, Beom-Gi Kim 3 email, Jun Cheul Ahn 2  and Hye Sun Cho 1,* email
1 Green Bio Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-506, Korea 2 Department of Pharmacology, Medical Science, Seonam University, Namwon 590-170, Korea 3 Division of Bio-Crops Development, National Academy of Agricultural Science, RDA, Suwon 441-707, Korea † These authors contributed equally to this work.
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 30 January 2013; in revised form: 4 March 2013 / Accepted: 5 March 2013 / Published: 13 March 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic and Biotic Stress Tolerance Mechanisms in Plants)
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Abstract: The putative thylakoid lumen immunophilin, FKBP16-3, has not yet been characterized, although this protein is known to be regulated by thioredoxin and possesses a well-conserved CxxxC motif in photosynthetic organisms. Here, we characterized rice OsFKBP16-3 and examined the role of this gene in the regulation of abiotic stress in plants. FKBP16-3s are well conserved in eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms, including the presence of a unique disulfide-forming CxxxC motif in their N-terminal regions. OsFKBP16-3 was mainly expressed in rice leaf tissues and was upregulated by various abiotic stresses, including salt, drought, high light, hydrogen peroxide, heat and methyl viologen. The chloroplast localization of OsFKBP16-3-GFP was confirmed through the transient expression of OsFKBP16-3 in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Transgenic Arabidopsis and transgenic rice plants that constitutively expressed OsFKBP16-3 exhibited increased tolerance to salinity, drought and oxidative stresses, but showed no change in growth or phenotype, compared with vector control plants, when grown under non-stressed conditions. This is the first report to demonstrate the potential role of FKBP16-3 in the environmental stress response, which may be regulated by a redox relay process in the thylakoid lumen, suggesting that artificial regulation of FKBP16-3 expression is a candidate for stress-tolerant crop breeding.
Keywords: FK506 binding protein; FKBP16-3; thylakoid lumen; environmental stress tolerance

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MDPI and ACS Style

Park, H.J.; Lee, S.S.; You, Y.N.; Yoon, D.H.; Kim, B.-G.; Ahn, J.C.; Cho, H.S. A Rice Immunophilin Gene, OsFKBP16-3, Confers Tolerance to Environmental Stress in Arabidopsis and Rice. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2013, 14, 5899-5919.

AMA Style

Park HJ, Lee SS, You YN, Yoon DH, Kim B-G, Ahn JC, Cho HS. A Rice Immunophilin Gene, OsFKBP16-3, Confers Tolerance to Environmental Stress in Arabidopsis and Rice. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2013; 14(3):5899-5919.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Park, Hyun J.; Lee, Sang S.; You, Young N.; Yoon, Dae H.; Kim, Beom-Gi; Ahn, Jun C.; Cho, Hye S. 2013. "A Rice Immunophilin Gene, OsFKBP16-3, Confers Tolerance to Environmental Stress in Arabidopsis and Rice." Int. J. Mol. Sci. 14, no. 3: 5899-5919.

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