Isolation of a novel ABC-transporter gene from soybean induced by salicylic acid

This paper reports on the identification and characterization of a new ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter which was identified as a salicylic acid-induced gene from soybean (Glycine max cv. Williams 82) in a subtractive suppression hybridization approach. A fragment of an ABC-transporter gene was used to isolate a full-length cDNA clone for this gene with a length of 4750 bp. The encoded protein has a length of 1447 amino acids and is composed of two similar repeat units typical of full-size ABC transporters. The sequence displays a close relationship to plant pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR)-type transporters and, on a homology basis, clusters together with the Arabidopsis thaliana PDR12 gene, suggesting GmPDR12 as a name for the gene isolated from soybean. GmPDR12 is rapidly responsive to salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate. The mRNA starts to accumulate 30 min after the addition of the signalling compounds. Salicylic acid is required for the execution of the hypersensitive reaction in soybean cell suspension cultures inoculated with Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea. It has been demonstrated previously that salicylic acid can be substituted by a variety of functional analogues of salicylic acid. All of these compounds lead to a strong and rapid transcriptional activation of GmPDR12, suggesting a shared signalling pathway.