Glyphosate-induced GhAG2 is involved in resistance to salt stress in cotton

Key message The transcription of GhAG2 was strongly enhanced by glyphosate treatment. Overexpression of GhAG2 could improve plant tolerance to salt and salicylic acid stress. Although glyphosate has been widely used as an herbicide over the past decade owing to its high efficacy on weed controls and worldwide commercialization of glyphosate-resistant crops, little is known about the glyphosate-induced responses and transcriptional changes in cotton plants. Here, we report the identification of 26 differentially expressed genes after glyphosate treatment, among which, six highly up-regulated sequences share homology to cotton expressed sequence tags (ESTs) responsive to abiotic stresses. In addition, we cloned GhAG2, a gene whose transcription was strongly enhanced by glyphosate treatment and other abiotic stresses. Transgenic GhAG2 plants showed improved tolerance to salt, and salicylic acid (SA) stress. The results could open the door to exploring the function of the GhAG2 proteins, the glyphosate-induced transcriptional profiles, and the physiological biochemical responses in cotton and other crops. GhAG2 could also be used to improve salt stress tolerance through breeding and biotechnology in crops. Furthermore, these results could provide guidelines to develop a glyphosate-inducible system for controlled expression of targeted genes in plants.