Rapeseed calcineurin B-like protein CBL4, interacting with CBL-interacting protein kinase CIPK24, modulates salt tolerance in plants

Calcium is a ubiquitous intracellular secondary messenger in eukaryotes. Upon stress challenge, cytosolic Ca2+ fluctuation could be sensed and bound by calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs), which further regulate a group of Ser/Thr protein kinases called CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs) to relay the signal and induce cellular responses. Although the CBL-CIPK network has been demonstrated to play crucial roles in plant development and responses to various environmental stresses in Arabidopsis, little is known about their function in rapeseed. In the present study, we characterized CBL4 gene from rapeseed. We found that CBL4 is localized at the plasma membrane and it interacted with CIPK24 in both yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays. Unlike the orthologs in Arabidopsis, rapeseed CIPK24 did not interact with CBL10. Furthermore, expression of rapeseed CBL4 rescued the salt-sensitive phenotype of sos3-1 mutant and overexpression of rapeseed CBL4 in Arabidopsis showed enhanced tolerance of salt stress than wild-type. Overall, the results clarified the function of CBL4 in rapeseed.