细胞分裂素糖基化修饰基因UGT76C2提高植物耐旱性作用分析

UGT76C2 is a cytokinin glucosyltransferase which plays important role in maintaining cytokinin homeostasis through glucosylation reaction. However, whether the cytokinin glucosylation is involved in the abiotic stress tolerance of plants is unknown. In this study, the relationship of cytokinin glucosylation and abiotic stress response is investigated using the UGT76C2 mutant and UGT76C2 overexpression lines of Arabidopsis. It was found that, compared to wild type, the UGT76C2 overexpressors have substantially enhanced drought tolerance, while the drought tolerance of ugt76c2 mutant get decreased. Under drought and ABA treatments, smaller stomatal aperture was observed for UGT76C2 overexpression lines, and larger stomatal opening was observed for the ugt76c2 mutant compared with that of WT. Additionally, eight stress inducible genes involved in ABA-dependent and ABA-independent pathways were detected, and significant upregulation of them were observed in UGT76C2 overexpression plants under drought stress. These findings demonstrate that UGT76C2, as a cytokinin glycosyltransferase, is positively involved in the regulation the plant response to drought stress.