Effect of VTE1 AND VTE4 gene inactivation on salt stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The effect of inactivation of VTE1 and VTE4 genes, encoding enzymes involved in tocopherol biosynthesis, on concentrations of chlorophylls, carotenoids, anthocyanins and activity of catalase and guaiacol peroxidase in Arabidopsis thaliana under salt stress conditions were studied. It was shown, that the inactivation of the VTE4 gene in A. thaliana caused the decrease in concentrations of chlorophylls and carotenoids, and at the same time, inactivation of VTE1 gene resulted in 3.6-fold increase of catalase activity in comparison with the wild type. Under salt stress, the activities of guaiacol peroxidase increased in all investigated plant groups, while the concentrations of carotenoids increased only in the wild type and vte4 mutant line of A. thaliana. Salt stress did not change the concentrations of protein carbonyl groups and activities of catalase.