Cloning of Salt Tolerance-Related cDNAs from the Mangrove Plant Sesuvium portulacastrum L.

In an attempt to isolate and identify the target genes relevant to salt tolerance in a mangrove plant (Sesuvium portulacastrum L.), a subtracted cDNA library was constructed via suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH), in which the poly(A)⁺RNA isolated from salt-tolerant S. portulacastrum leaves was used as a tester, whereas the driver was poly(A)⁺RNA, derived from salt-sensitive S. portulacastrum leaves. Screening of this subtracted cDNA library revealed five clones, of which the expression levels in the salt-tolerant plant were markedly higher than those observed in the salt-sensitive plant, indicating that these candidate clones may be involved in salt-tolerance pathways. Among the clones isolated, P66, P175, and P233 are novel because no significant similarity was obtained upon alignment with the GenBank database. Clone P89 demonstrated high homology with NADPH of Arabidopsis thaliana, whereas clone P152 was highly homologous with the gene encoding late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) protein of A. thaliana. The full-length gene of clone P152, with a predicated 344 amino acid residues, was shown to bear LEA-2 domains, a signature motif for proteins that have been enriched under salty and drought conditions. It is thus implied that clone P152 would be a salt-tolerance gene of S. portulacastrum. In addition, we have also developed a strategy for the extraction of total RNA from mangrove plants.

(Managing editor: Li-Hui Zhao)