活性氧造成的氧化胁迫是植物主要非生物逆境胁迫之一。在不利的生长条件下,植物细胞内的各种代谢过程不协调可导致过氧化氢(hydrogen peroxide, H₂O₂)含量增加,从而对细胞造成多种威胁和伤害。抗坏血酸过氧化物酶(ascorbate peroxidase, APX)是植物中清除H₂O₂的一种重要酶,拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana) APX家族包括8个成员：APX1~APX6、sAPX和tAPX。本研究以拟南芥野生型和突变体为材料,对拟南芥不同发育时期和不同逆境胁迫下的8种APX基因表达模式进行了分析,同时研究了其相应的缺失突变体对盐、干旱和热胁迫的耐受性。mRNA差异表达模式分析显示：在拟南芥生长的第4~8周,APX1表达量最高,APX2表达量最低,APX4、sAPX和tAPX随着生长发育的时间进程表达量逐渐减少,但APX6表达量不断增加;在非生物胁迫下,APX1、APX2和APX6受热胁迫诱导表达明显,sAPX响应盐胁迫,APX3和APX5对盐、干旱和热胁迫均表现出明显的诱导表达应答。盐和干旱胁迫耐受性分析结果表明：无论是在拟南芥的萌发期还是成熟期,任何一个APX基因缺失均使抗逆性降低;在萌发期,与盐胁迫相比,突变体对干旱胁迫更敏感;在成熟期,与野生型和其他突变体相比,apx1和apx6对盐和干旱胁迫更加不耐受。生理指标检测结果显示：干旱胁迫10 d后,所有突变体植株中的H₂O₂含量均明显高于野生型,其中apx1、sapx和tapx中最高;盐胁迫5 d后,突变体中丙二醛(malondialdehyde, MDA)的含量显著高于野生型;热胁迫2 h就会导致apx1、apx2和apx6中H₂O₂和MDA含量大幅增加,其中在apx2中最高。本研究结果表明,拟南芥APX基因家族的8个成员均不同程度地参与植物生长发育及非生物胁迫响应的过程,在不同发育时期或逆境响应过程有特定的一种或几种APX发挥主要作用。

Oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the major abiotic stresses in plants. Under adverse growth conditions, the incoordination of various metabolic processes in plant cells can result in increased hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), thus causing a variety of threats and injuries to plant cells. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) is an important enzyme to remove H₂O₂ in plants. In Arabidopsis thaliana, there are eight APX gene family members, including APX1?APX6, sAPX and tAPX. In this study, we analyzed the expression patterns of the eight APX genes in the wild-type and apx mutant plants at different developmental stages and under different abiotic stress conditions. Meanwhile, the tolerance of each apx mutant to salt, drought and heat stresses was studied. qRT-PCR analysis showed that during development (from 4 to 8 weeks old), APX1 and APX2 exhibited the highest and lowest expression levels, respectively. In addition, the expression levels of APX4, sAPX and tAPX decreased during development, while the expression of APX6 increased with the maturity of the plants. Moreover, under different abiotic stress conditions, APX1, APX2 and APX6 were significantly induced by heat stress, sAPX actively responded to salt stress, and APX3 and APX5 exhibited obvious responses to salt, drought and heat stresses. Further tolerance analysis showed that the resistance of all apx mutants to salt and drought stresses was lower than that of the wild-type plant at both germination and maturity stages. At germination stage, all apx mutants were more sensitive to drought stress than to salt stress. At maturity stage, the apx1 and apx6 mutants were more sensitive to salt and drought stresses than the wild-type and other apx mutant plants. The physiological indexes indicated that the H₂O₂ content in all mutants, especially in the apx1, sapx and tapx, was significantly higher than that in the wild type 10 days after drought stress treatment, the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in all mutants was significantly higher than that in the wild type 5 days after salt stress treatment, while heat stress treatment for 2 h resulted in a significant increase in the contents of H₂O₂ and MDA in apx1, apx2 and apx6, especially in apx2. Taken together, our study revealed that all eight APX members of Arabidopsis participate in the growth and developmental processes and the abiotic stress responses, with some specific APXs playing a major role in a certain process.