Heterologous expression of the halophyte Zoysia matrella H+-pyrophosphatase gene improved salt tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

• A full-length cDNA of ZmVP1 gene from Zoysia matrella was identified.
• ZmVP1 transgenic yeast and Arabidopsis exhibited higher salinity tolerance.
• ZmVP1 transformation promoted Na/K assimilation and vacuole H+ transport enzyme activities.
• ZmVP1 overexpression could upregulate expression of several stress-related genes.

A number of vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase (VP) family genes play important roles in plant growth under salt stress condition. Despite their biological importance in plant salt-stress regulation, there is no report about VP in the halophytic turfgrass Zoysia matrella. Here, we isolated ZmVP1, a type I VP homologues gene encoding 768 amino acids by using the degenerated PCR and RACE PCR methods from Zoysia matrella. The expression level of ZmVP1 was significantly induced by salinity, drought and cold, but not by heat. ZmVP1 can restore the salt-tolerant ability of a salt-sensitive yeast strain. Overexpression of ZmVP1 in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in more vigorous growth under salt stress. Moreover, the transgenic Arabidopsis accumulated more Na+ and K+ in the leaves compared to that of wild type plants under salt stress, had higher activities of V-ATPase and V-PPase, and showed higher relative gene expression levels of 5 stress-related genes (AtNHX1, AtLEA, AtP5CS, AtMn-SOD, AtAPX1). These results demonstrated that ZmVP1 from Z. matrella was a functional tonoplast H+-pyrophosphatase contributing to salt tolerance potentially through regulating the Na+ compartment in vacuole, K+ assimilation, osmotic regulation and antioxidant response.