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Plants ectopically expressing the ironbinding protein, ferritin, are tolerant to oxidative damage and pathogens

Nature Biotechnology volume 17, pages 192–196 (1999)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 April 1999

Abstract

Transgenic tobacco plants that synthesize alfalfa ferritin in vegetative tissues—either in its processed form in chloroplasts or in the cytoplasmic nonprocessed form—retained photosynthetic function upon free radical toxicity generated by iron excess or paraquat treatment. Progeny of transgenic plants accumulating ferritin in their leaves exhibited tolerance to necrotic damage caused by viral (tobacco necrosis virus) and fungal (Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea) infections. These transformants exhibited normal photosynthetic function and chlorophyll content under greenhouse conditions. We propose that by sequestering intracellular iron involved in generation of the very reactive hydroxyl radicals through a Fenton reaction, ferritin protects plant cells from oxidative damage induced by a wide range of stresses.

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Figure 1: Immunodetection of ferritin in tobacco plants overexpressing the MsFer cDNA.
Figure 2: Light–activated fluorescence in transformed and control (SR1) tobacco plants after iron or paraquat treatment.
Figure 3: Loss of chlorophylls from leaf discs treated with paraquat.
Figure 4

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Keczánné Czakó Zsuzsa for the excellent work during the preparation of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Körber Foundation, Hamburg, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Temesvári krt. 62., Szeged, H–6726, Hungary

    Mária Deák, Gábor V. Horváth, Sholpan Davletova, Katalin Török, László Sass, Imre Vass & Dénes Dudits

  2. Biotechnology Institute, Bay Zoltán Applied Research Foundation, Derkovits fasor 2., Szeged, H–6726, Hungary

    Mária Deák, Gábor V. Horváth & Dénes Dudits

  3. Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Herman Ottó u. 15., P.O. Box 102, Budapest, H–1525, Hungary

    Balázs Barna & Zoltán Király

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  1. Mária Deák
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Correspondence to Dénes Dudits.

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Deák, M., Horváth, G., Davletova, S. et al. Plants ectopically expressing the ironbinding protein, ferritin, are tolerant to oxidative damage and pathogens. Nat Biotechnol 17, 192–196 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/6198

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