An Aquaporin Gene ( KoPIP2;1 ) Isolated from Mangrove Plant Kandelia obovata Had Enhanced Cold Tolerance of Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

Aquaporins (AQPs) are essential channel proteins that play central roles in maintaining water homeostasis. Here, a novel aquaporin gene, named , was cloned from the mangrove plant by RACE technology. The gene was 1404 bp in length with an open reading frame (ORF) of 852 bp, encoded with 283 amino acids. Database comparisons revealed that protein shared the highest identity (91.26%) with the aquaporin , which was isolated from Gene expression analysis revealed that the gene was induced higher in leaves than in stems and roots of under cold stress. Transient expression of in epidermal cells revealed that the protein was localized to the plasma membrane. Overexpressing in significantly enhanced the lateral root number of the transgenic lines. transgenic demonstrated better growth, elevated proline content, increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities, and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) content compared with the wild-type when exposed to cold stress. The findings suggest that overexpression of probably conferred cold tolerance of transgenic by enhancing osmoregulation and antioxidant capacity. This present data presents a valuable gene resource that contributes to the advancement of our understanding of aquaporins and their potential application in enhancing plant stress tolerance.