Overexpression of Medicago sativa LEA4-4 can improve the salt, drought, and oxidation resistance of transgenic Arabidopsis

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are widely involved in many adverse conditions among plants. In this study, we isolated a LEA4 gene from alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) termed MsLEA4-4 via a homology cloning strategy. MsLEA4-4 encodes 166 amino acids, and the structural analysis showed that the gene contained five repeating TAQAAKEKTQQ amino acid motifs. There were a large number of α-helix in MsLEA4-4, and belongs to hydrophilic amino acid. Subcellular localization analysis showed that MsLEA4-4 was localized in the nucleus. The MsLEA4-4 promoter consisted of G-box and A-box elements, abscisic acid-responsive elements (ABREs), photo regulation and photoperiodic-controlling cis-acting elements, and endosperm expression motifs. The MsLEA4-4 overexpressing in Arabidopsis conferred late-germination phenotypes. Resistance of the overexpressed plants to abiotic stress significantly outperformed the wild-type (WT) plants. Under salt stress and abscisic acid treatment, with more lateral roots and higher chlorophyll content, the overexpressed plants has a higher survival rate measured against WT. Compared to those in the WT plants, the levels of soluble sugar and the activity of various antioxidant enzymes were elevated in the overexpressed plants, whereas the levels of proline and malondialdehyde were significantly reduced. The expression levels of several genes such as ABF3, ABI5, NCED5, and NCED9 increased markedly in the overexpressed plants compared to the WT under osmotic stress.