SCOF-1-expressing transgenic sweetpotato plants show enhanced tolerance to low-temperature stress

Low-temperature stress represents one of the principal limitations affecting the distribution and productivity of many plant species, including crops such as sweetpotato. Transgenic sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L. cv. Yulmi) plants expressing the soybean cold-inducible zinc finger protein (SCOF-1) under control of an oxidative stress-inducible peroxidase (SWPA2) promoter (referred to as SF plants), were developed and evaluated for enhanced tolerance to low-temperature conditions. Following 4 °C treatment of SF plants, SCOF-1 expression correlated positively with tolerance to low-temperature stress at the leaf disc level. Increased SCOF-1 expression also correlated with enhanced tolerance to different low-temperature treatments at the whole plant level. SF plants treated with low-temperature stress (4 or 10 °C for 30 h) exhibited less of a reduction in photosynthetic activity and lipid peroxidation levels than non-transgenic (NT) plants. Furthermore, the photosynthetic activity and lipid peroxidation levels of SF plants recovered to near pre-stress levels after 12 h of recovery at 25 °C. In contrast, these activities remained at a reduced level in NT plants after the same recovery period. Thus, this study has shown that low-temperature stress in sweetpotato can be efficiently modulated by overexpression of SCOF-1.