In vivo expression of a short peptide designed from late embryogenesis abundant protein for enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in Escherichia coli

In vivo functional analyses of a late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) short peptide expressed in recombinant Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) were carried out under abiotic stress (salt, heat, and cold) conditions. Our LEA peptide was derived from the Polypedilum vanderplanki group 3 LEA protein based on distinctive conserved amino acid motif sequences. We focused on high-salt (5% and 7% NaCl) concentrations to evaluate the functional relevance of the peptide under abiotic salt stress. E. coli transformants expressing the LEA peptide showed higher cell viability than the control not expressing the peptide when transferred to a medium containing 5% and 7% NaCl; cells expressing LEA peptide showed a higher number of colony-forming units per dilution under the high salt stress condition. Moreover, expression of the LEA peptide resulted in greater cell survival under heat (48 °C) and cold (4 °C) stress. These results suggest that LEA short peptide co-expression could be useful for developing genetically modified organisms and in applications to prevent E. coli cell death under high salt, heat, and cold stress.