Enhanced Abiotic Stress Tolerance of <i>Vicia faba</i> L. Plants Heterologously Expressing the PR10a Gene from Potato

• Main Authors: Abeer F. Desouky, Ahmed H. Hanafy, Hartmut Stützel, Hans-Jörg Jacobsen, Yi-Chen Pao, Moemen S. Hanafy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
• Series: Plants
• Subjects: abiotic stress; gas exchange; pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins; transgenic plant; Vicia faba L.
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/10/1/173

Pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins are known to play relevant roles in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present study, we characterize the response of transgenic faba bean (<i>Vicia faba</i> L.) plants encoding a <i>PR10a</i> gene from potato (<i>Solanum tuberosum</i> L.) to salinity and drought. The transgene was under the mannopine synthetase (pMAS) promoter. <i>PR10a</i>-overexpressing faba bean plants showed better growth than the wild-type plants after 14 days of drought stress and 30 days of salt stress under hydroponic growth conditions. After removing the stress, the PR10a-plants returned to a normal state, while the wild-type plants could not be restored. Most importantly, there was no phenotypic difference between transgenic and non-transgenic faba bean plants under well-watered conditions. Evaluation of physiological parameters during salt stress showed lower Na⁺- content in the leaves of the transgenic plants, which would reduce the toxic effect. In addition, PR10a-plants were able to maintain vegetative growth and experienced fewer photosystem changes under both stresses and a lower level of osmotic stress injury under salt stress compared to wild-type plants. Taken together, our findings suggest that the <i>PR10a </i>gene from potato plays an important role in abiotic stress tolerance, probably by activation of stress-related physiological processes.