Overexpression of L-type lectin-like protein kinase 1 confers pathogen resistance and regulates salinity response in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Plant receptor-like protein kinases are thought to be involved in various cellular processes mediated by signal transduction pathways. There are about 45 lectin receptor kinases in Arabidopsis, but only a few have been studied. Here, we investigated the effect of the disruption and overexpression of a plasma membrane-localized L-type lectin-like protein kinase 1, AtLPK1 (At4g02410), on plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress. Expression of AtLPK1 was strongly induced by abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid and stress treatments. Overexpression of AtLPK1 in Arabidopsis resulted in enhanced seed germination and cotyledon greening under high salinity condition, while antisense transgenic lines were more sensitive to salt stress. Activity of three abiotic stress responsive genes, RD29A, RD29B and COR15A, was elevated in AtLPK1-overexpressing plants than that in wild type (WT) plants with salt treatment, whereas the transcript level of these genes in antisense plants decreased compared with WT. Furthermore, AtLPK1-overexpressing plants displayed increased resistance to infection by Botrytis cinerea and exhibited stronger expression of a group of defense-related genes than did WT. The data implicates AtLPK1 plays essential roles at both abiotic and biotic stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana.