Overexpression of the receptor-like protein kinase genes AtRPK1 and OsRPK1 reduces the salt tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana

AtRPK1 (AT1G69270) is a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein kinase (LRR-RLK) gene in Arabidopsis thaliana. The rice gene Os07g0602700 (OsRPK1) is the homolog of AtRPK1. AtRPK1 and OsRPK1 were overexpressed and the expression of AtRPK1 was inhibited by RNAi in A. thaliana. The functional results showed that the degrees of salt tolerance of the 35S:RPK1 A. thaliana plants were significantly lower than that of the control plants. The AtRPK1-RNAi A. thaliana plants exhibited higher salt tolerance than the wild-type plants (Col). The subcellular localisation results showed that the RPK1 proteins were mainly distributed on the cell membrane and that the overexpressed AtRPK1 proteins exhibited a significantly clustered distribution. The physiological analyses revealed that the overexpression of the RPK1 genes increased the membrane permeability in the transgenic A. thaliana plants. In response to salt stress, these plants exhibited an increased Na+ flux into the cell, which caused greater damage to the cell. The real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that the expression of the P5CS1 gene was inhibited and the SOS signalling pathway was blocked in the 35S:AtRPK1 A. thaliana plants. These effects at least partially contribute to the salt-sensitive phenotype of the 35S:RPK1 plants.