Cloning and Expression of a Gene Encoding a Raffinose Synthase in the Resurrection Plant Boea hygrometrica
复苏植物旋蒴苣苔棉子糖合酶基因的克隆和表达

Resurrection plants are a valuable resource for understanding the mechanisms of dehydration tolerance and for mining candidate genes that can be used to improve drought tolerance in crops. Here, we determined the contents of galactinol, raffinose and stachyose in dehydrated and rehydrated leaves of a resurrection plant Boea hygrometrica. We cloned a dehydration-inducible gene encoding a raffinose synthase from B. hygrometrica and found that BhRFS was upregulated by cold (4°C), high salt (200 mmol·L–1NaCl), and abscisic acid (ABA, 100 μmol·L–1) but downregulated by high temperature (37°C) and not affected by H2O2 (200 μmol·L–1). BhRFS may function in responce to various abiotic stresses, possibly regulated by ABA-dependent signal pathways, therefore it is a good candidate gene for plant breeding to enhance plant stress tolerance.