AtSIA1, an ABC1-like kinase, regulates salt response in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Atypical kinase family, ABC1 (the activity of bc1 complex) genes play essential roles in plant growth, development and responses to be environmental stresses. Here, a novel gene, AtSIA1 (A. thaliana Salt-Induced ABC1 kinase 1) was cloned and characterized in Arabidopsis. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that it constitutively expressed and mainly induced by salt treatment. AtSIA1-GFP fusion analysis showed that AtSIA1 is localized in chloroplasts. Transgenic plants with overexpression of AtSIA1 show higher tolerance to salt stress than that of the Col-0 and the knock-out mutant sia1 during seedling growth. Taken together, our results suggested that AtSIA1 may be involved in salt stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. © 2012 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Wien.