Improvement of wheat drought and salt tolerance by expression of a stress-inducible transcription factor GmDREB of soybean (Glycine max)

Abstract

Under stress conditions such as drought, high-salinity and low-temperature, the transcription factor of DREB (dehydration responsive element binding proteins) improved efficiently stress resistance by regulating the expression of its downstream genes with various environmental stress resistance in plants. GmDREB gene (GenBank Accession No. AF514908) encoding a stress-inducible transcription factor was cloned by screening a cDNA library of Glycine max cv. Jinong 27 with yeast one-hybrid method. GmDREB gene was 910 bp in length and encoded 174 amino acids containing a conserved AP2/EREBP DNA-binding domain of 58 amino acids. Two conserved functional amino acids, valine and glutamic acid, were located on the 14th and the 19th amino acid residues in the conserved structural domain. An alkaline amino acid region (KKR) related to a nuclear localization signal was at the N-terminal, while an acidic amino acid region (DDD) related to trans-activation was at the C-terminal. Plant expression vectors were constructed and transformed into wheat by bombardment. In total, 13 transgenic plants with Ubi::GmDREB and 11 transgenic plants with rd29A::GmDREB were identified from 103 regeneration plants by molecular analysis. The drought and salt tolerances of T 1 transgenic lines with Ubi::GmDREB or rd29A::GmDREB were demonstrated to be improved as compared to wild type. The result also suggested that both Ubiquitin and rd29A promoters could effectively drive the expression of the GmDREB gene and enhance drought and salt tolerance of T 1 plants.

Overexpression of AtHDG11 enhanced drought tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…Some of these TFs genes have been utilized in crops improvement, such as DREB (dehydration-responsive element-binding proteins) (Gao et al 2005), NAC (NAM, ATAF, CUC transcription factor) (Saad et al 2013) and ERF (ethylene-response factor) (Rong et al 2014). However, not all TFs suit breeding standards for that yield is the ultimate parameter for breeding utilization.…”

Overexpression of two chrysanthemum DgDREB1 group genes causing delayed flowering or dwarfism in Arabidopsis

“…This occurs not only in model plants (Liu et al 1998;Dubouzet et al 2003), but also in crops such as rice (Lee et al 2004;Wang et al 2008), wheat (Gao et al 2005), Brassica napus (Savitch et al 2005), tomato (Hsieh et al 2002a, b), peanut (Bhatnagar-Mathur et al 2007), and chrysanthemum (Hong et al 2006a, b).…”

Cloning of SjCA gene and its expression analysis on upland cottons

“…Yu et al converted the salt-tolerant gene mangrin into Eucalyptus and also acquired a transformant with enhanced salt tolerance [35] . Gao et al obtained wheat plants with higher salt and drought tolerance by GmDREB gene transgenosis [36] . Lee et al converted TPS gene of Escherichia coli into tobacco to improve its salt tolerance [37] .…”