In order to improve the
salt tolerance of
banana NHX
genes, we cloned a MaNHX5
gene from
Musa acuminata L. AAA group and predicted the key
salt-tolerant
amino acid sites and
mutant protein structure changes of MaNHX5 by using
bioinformatics tools. The 276-position
serine (S) of MaNHX5
protein was successfully mutated to
aspartic acid (D) by
site-directed mutagenesis, and the AXT3
salt-sensitive mutant
yeast was used for a functional
complementation test. The results showed that after the mutated MaNHX5
gene was transferred to AXT3
salt-sensitive mutant
yeast, the
salt tolerance of the mutant
yeast was significantly improved under 200 mmol/L NaCl
treatment. It is hypothesized that Ser276 of MaNHX5
protein plays an important
role in the transport of Na+ across the tonoplast.