Overexpression of cotton PYL genes in Arabidopsis enhances the transgenic plant tolerance to drought stress

PYR/PYL/RCAR proteins are putative abscisic acid (ABA) receptors that play important roles in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, 27 predicted PYL proteins were identified in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Sequence analysis showed they are conserved in structures. Phylogenetic analysis showed that cotton PYL family could be categorized into three groups. Yeast two-hybrid assay revealed that the GhPYL proteins selectively interacted with some GhPP2C proteins. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that the most of nine GhPYL genes were down-regulated, while the other three were up-regulated in cotton under drought stress. Overexpression of GhPYL10/12/26 in Arabidopsis conferred the transgenic plants increased ABA sensitivity during seed germination and early seedling growth. On the contrary, the transgenic seedlings displayed better growth status and longer primary roots under normal conditions and mannitol stress, compared with wild type. Furthermore, the transgenic plants showed the enhanced drought tolerance, relative to wild type, when they were suffered from drought stress. Expression of some stress-related genes in transgenic plants was significant higher than that in wild type under osmotic stress. Thus, our data suggested that these cotton PYL genes may be involved in plant response and defense to drought/osmotic stress.