Overexpression of VP, a vacuolar H(+)-pyrophosphatase gene in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), improves tobacco plant growth under Pi and N deprivation, high salinity, and drought

Establishing crop cultivars with strong tolerance to P and N deprivation, high salinity, and drought is an effective way to improve crop yield and promote sustainable agriculture worldwide. A vacuolar H(+)-pyrophosphatase (V-H(+)-PPase) gene in wheat (TaVP) was functionally characterized in this study. TaVP cDNA is 2586-bp long and encodes a 775-amino-acid polypeptide that contains 10 conserved membrane-spanning domains. Transcription of TaVP was upregulated by inorganic phosphate (Pi) and N deprivation, high salinity, and drought. Transgene analysis revealed that TaVP overexpression improved plant growth under normal conditions and specifically under Pi and N deprivation stresses, high salinity, and drought. The improvement of growth of the transgenic plants was found to be closely related to elevated V-H(+)-PPase activities in their tonoplasts and enlarged root systems, which possibly resulted from elevated expression of auxin transport-associated genes. TaVP-overexpressing plants showed high dry mass, photosynthetic efficiencies, antioxidant enzyme activities, and P, N, and soluble carbohydrate concentrations under various growth conditions, particularly under the stress conditions. The transcription of phosphate and nitrate transporter genes was not altered in TaVP-overexpressing plants compared with the wild type, suggesting that high P and N concentrations regulated by TaVP were caused by increased root absorption area instead of alteration of Pi and NO(3) (−) acquisition kinetics. TaVP is important in the tolerance of multiple stresses and can serve as a useful genetic resource to improve plant P- and N-use efficiencies and to increase tolerance to high salinity and drought.