Apocarotenoids modulate vital physiological and developmental processes in plants. These molecules are formed by the cleavage of carotenoids, a reaction catalyzed by a family of enzymes called carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs). Apocarotenoids like β-ionone and β-cyclocitral have been reported to act as stress signal molecules during high light stress in many plant species. In Crocus sativus, these two apocarotenoids are formed by enzymatic cleavage of β-carotene at 9, 10 and 7, 8 bonds by CsCCD4 enzymes. In the present study three isoforms of CsCCD4 were subjected to molecular modeling and docking analysis to determine their substrate specificity and all the three isoforms displayed high substrate specificity for β-carotene. Further, expression of these three CsCCD4 isoforms investigated in response to various stresses revealed that CsCCD4a and CsCCD4b exhibit enhanced expression in response to dehydration, salt and methylviologen, providing a clue towards their role in mediating plant defense response. This was confirmed by overexpressing CsCCD4b in Arabidopsis. The transgenic plants developed longer roots and possessed higher number of lateral roots. Further, overexpression of CsCCD4b imparted enhanced tolerance to salt, dehydration and oxidative stresses as was evidenced by higher survival rate, increased relative root length and biomass in transgenic plants as compared to wild type. Transgenic plants also displayed higher activity and expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolizing enzymes. This indicates that β-ionone and β-cyclocitral which are enzymatic products of CsCCD4b may act as stress signals and mediate reprogramming of stress responsive genes which ultimately leads to plant defense.
