Expression of a celery mannose 6‐phosphate reductase in Arabidopsis thaliana enhances salt tolerance and induces biosynthesis of both mannitol and a glucosyl‐mannitol dimer

ABSTRACT Mannitol, a sugar alcohol that may serve as a compatible solute to cope with salt stress, is synthesized via the action of a mannose‐6‐phosphate reductase (M6PR) in celery (Apium graveolens L). In contrast to previous approaches that have used a bacterial gene to engineer mannitol biosynthesis in plants and other organisms, Arabidopsis thaliana, a non‐mannitol producer, was transformed with the celery leaf M6PR gene under control of the CaMV 35S promotor. In all independent Arabidopsis M6PR transformants, mannitol accumulated throughout the plants in amounts ranging from 0·5 to 6 µmol g−1 fresh weight. A novel compound, not found in either celery or Arabidopsis, 1‐O‐β‐d‐glucopyranosyl‐d‐mannitol, also accumulated in vegetative tissues of mature plants in amounts up to 4 µmol g−1 fresh weight, but not in flowers and seeds. In the absence of NaCl, all transformants were phenotypically the same as the wild type; however, in the presence of NaCl, mature transgenic plants showed a high level of salt tolerance, i.e. growing, completing normal development, flowering, and producing seeds in soil irrigated with 300 mm NaCl in the nutrient solution. These results demonstrate a major role in developing salt‐tolerant plants by means of introducing mannitol biosynthesis using M6PR.