Calcium-dependent protein kinase CPK31 interacts with arsenic transporter AtNIP1; 1 and regulates arsenite uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana

Although arsenite [As(III)] is non-essential and toxic for plants, it is effectively absorbed through various transporters into the roots. Here we identified a calcium-dependent protein kinase (CPK31) response for As(III) tolerance in Arabidopsis. We identified CPK31 as an interacting protein of a nodulin 26-like intrinsic protein (NIP1; 1), an aquaporin involved in As (III) uptake. Similarly to the nip1; 1 mutants, the loss-of-function mutants of CPK31 improved the tolerance against As(III) but not As(V), and accumulated less As(III) in roots than that of the wild-type plants. The promoter-beta-glucuronidase and quantitative Real-Time PCR analysis revealed that CPK31 displayed overlapping expression profiles with NIP1; 1 in the roots, suggesting that they might function together in roots. Indeed, the cpk31 nip1; 1 double mutants exhibited stronger As(III) tolerance than cpk31 mutants, but similar to nip1; 1 mutants, supporting the idea that CPK31 might serve as an upstream regulator of NIP1; 1. Furthermore, transient CPK31 overexpression induced by dexamethasone caused the decrease in As(III) tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis lines. These findings reveal that CPK31 is a key factor in As(III) response in plants.