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Table 1 Role of ascorbate in plant growth and development and abiotic stress tolerance

From: Role of L-ascorbate in alleviating abiotic stresses in crop plants

Enzyme/protein

Target plant

Gene

Gene source

Type of genetic manipulation

Ascorbate content

Phenotypic changes

Reference

GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase

Tobacco

GMPase

Tomato

Overexpression

2.0–4.0-fold increase

Increased tolerance to temperature stress

Wang et al. 2011

Phosphomannose Isomerase

Arabidopsis

PMI1

Arabidopsis

RNAi

0.47–0.65-fold decrease

No phenotypic changes under normal growth conditions in both mutants

Maruta et al. 2008

 

PMI2

–

T-DNA knockout

No change

 

Phosphomannomutase

Tobacco

NbPMM

Tobacco

VIGS

Up to 3.0-fold decrease

–

Qian et al. 2007

Arabidopsis

NbPMM

Tobacco

VVMEE

0.2–0.5-fold increase

–

 

AtPMM

Arabidopsis

Overexpression

0.25–0.33-fold increase

Increased tolerance to MV stress

Tobacco

PMM

Acerola

Overexpression

2.0-fold increase

–

Badejo et al. 2009

VTC4/Myoinositol monophosphatase (IMP)

Arabidopsis

VTC4

–

T-DNA knockout

0.61–0.75-fold decrease

22.4% –34% decreases in myoinositol content

Torabinejad et al. 2009

     

Slow seed germination under control conditions

     

Slightly hypersensitive to ABA and NaCl during seed germination

GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase

Arabidopsis

vtc5-1 and vtc5-2

Arabidopsis

T-DNA knockout

0.2-fold decrease

Plant growth retardation and bleaching of the cotyledons

Dowdle et al. 2007

L-Galactose dehydrogenase

Tobacco (BY–2 cells)

L–GalLDH

Tobacco

Overexpression

1.5–2.0-fold increase

Higher mitotic index in cells

Tokunaga et al. 2005

     

Reduced browning and cells death of cultures

     

Increased tolerance to MV

L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase

Tobacco (BY–2 cells)

GLDH

Tobacco

Antisense downregulation

0.30-fold decrease

Adversely effected plant cell division, growth and structure of plant cell

Tabata et al. 2001

Tobacco

RrGalLDH

Rosa roxburghii

Overexpression

2.1-fold increase

Enhanced tolerance to salt stress

Liu et al. 2013a

Monodehydroascorbate reductase

Tobacco

AtMDAR1

Arabidopsis

Overexpression

Up to 2.2-fold increase

Enhanced tolerance to ozone, salt and PEG stresses

Eltayeb et al. 2007

Tobacco

Am-MDAR

Avicennia marina

Overexpression

Up to 2.0-fold increase

Increased tolerance to salt stress

Kavitha et al. 2010

Tobacco

MDAR-OX

Arabidopsis

Overexpression

Up to 1.1-fold increase

No change in Aluminium tolerance

Yin et al. 2010

Dehydroascorbate reductase

Tobacco

DHAR-OX

Arabidopsis

Overexpression

Up to 1.3-fold increase

Increased tolerance to Al stress

Yin et al. 2010

Tobacco

DHAR

Arabidopsis

Overexpression

1.9–2.1-fold increase

Enhanced tolerance to ozone, drought and salinity

Eltayeb et al. 2006

Tobacco

DHAR

Wheat

Overexpression

2.1-fold increase

Increased ozone tolerance and NPR

Chen and Gallie 2005

  

Tobacco

Antisense downregulation

0. 29-fold decrease

Substantially reduced stomatal area and low NPR

Tobacco

DHAR

Human

Overexpression

No significant change

Enhanced tolerance to low temperature and NaCl

Kwon et al. 2003

Ascorbate peroxidase

Tobacco

tAPx

Tobacco

Overexpression

No change

Increased tolerance to MV and chilling stresses under light conditions

Yabuta et al. 2002

  

Tobacco/ Spinach

Antisense downregulation

–

Plants failed to grow

Arabidopsis

HvAPX1

Barley

Overexpression

–

Increased tolerance to salt stress

Xu et al. 2008

Arabidopsis

OsAPXa and OsAPXb

Rice

Overexpression

–

Increased tolerance to salt stress

Lu et al. 2007

Tobacco

CAPOA1

Pepper

Overexpression

–

Increased plant growth

Sarowar et al. 2005

     

Increased tolerance to MV stress

Tobacco BY-2 cells

cAPX

Arabidopsis

Antisense downregulation

No change

Increased tolerance against heat and salt stresses

Ishikawa et al. 2005

Tobacco

StAPX

Tomato

Overexpression

–

Improved seed germination

Sun et al. 2010a

     

Increased tolerance to salt and osmotic stresses

Rice

Apx1/ Apx2

Rice

RNAi (Apx1+ Apx2)

Up to 1.5-fold decrease

No change in plant growth and development

Rosa et al. 2010

     

Increased tolerance to aluminium

   

RNAi (Apx1 or Apx2)

–

Produced semi-dwarf phenotype

Rice

OsAPx-R

Rice

RNAi

–

Delayed plant development

Lazzarotto et al. 2011

Rice

OsAPXa

Rice

Overexpression

–

Increased spikelet fertility under cold stress

Sato et al. 2011

Rice

Osapx2

Rice

Overexpression

–

Enhanced stress tolerance

Zhang et al. 2013

     

Sensitive to abiotic stresses

  

–

T-DNA knockout

–

Semi-dwarf seedlings, yellow-green leaves, leaf lesion-mimic and seed sterility

Alfalfa

Osapx2

Rice

Overexpression

–

Increased salt resistance

Guan et al. 2012

Tomato

cAPX

Pea

Overexpression

–

Enhanced tolerance to UV-B and heat stresses

Wang et al. 2006

Tomato

cAPX

Pea

Overexpression

–

Enhanced tolerance to chilling and salt stresses

Wang et al. 2005

Tomato

LetAPX

Tomato

Antisense downregulation

No significant change

Transgenic plants photosynthetically less efficient and sensitive to chilling stress

Duan et al. 2012b

Ascorbate oxidase

Tobacco

AAO

Cucumber

Overexpression

No change

Plants become susceptible to ozone

Sanmartin et al. 2003

Tobacco

AAO

Cucumber

Overexpression

No change

Increased drought tolerance due to reduced stomatal conductance

Fotopoulos et al. 2008

Tobacco

AAO

Pumpkin

Overexpression

2.0-fold increase in apoplastic ASA

Number of smaller flowers significantly increased 6% to 14% reduction of in seed weight

Pignocchi et al. 2003

  

Tobacco

Antisense downregulation

2.0-fold increase in apoplastic ASA

No significant changes

Tobacco

AAO

Tobacco

Overexpression

–

Severe inhibition of germination and seed yield under high salinity

Yamamoto et al. 2005

Tobacco

AAO

Tobacco

Antisense downregulation

–

Increased tolerance to salt stress

Yamamoto et al. 2005

    

–

Increased seed yield under salt stress

Arabidopsis

AAO

–

T-DNA knockout

 

Increased tolerance to salt stress

     

Increased seed yield under salt stress

Myoinositol oxygenase

Rice

OsMIOX

Rice

Overexpression

No change

Increased drought tolerance

Duan et al. 2012a

ASA mannose pathway regulator 1

Arabidopsis

AMR1

–

T-DNA knockout

2.0–3.0-fold increase

Increased ozone tolerance

Zhang et al. 2009

  1. APx-R, APX-related; CAPOA1, Capsicum annuum ascorbate peroxidase-like 1 gene; MV, methyl viologen; NPR, net photosynthetic rate; PEG, polyethylene glycol; RNAi, RNA interference; VIGS, Virus-induced gene silencing; VVMEE, Viral-vector-mediated ectopic- expression.