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Over-expression of a LEA gene in rice improves drought resistance under the field conditions

Over-expression of a LEA gene in rice improves drought resistance under the field conditions Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins have been implicated in many stress responses of plants. In this report, a LEA protein gene OsLEA3-1 was identified and over-expressed in rice to test the drought resistance of transgenic lines under the field conditions. OsLEA3-1 is induced by drought, salt and abscisic acid (ABA), but not by cold stress. The promoter of OsLEA3-1 isolated from the upland rice IRAT109 exhibits strong activity under drought- and salt-stress conditions. Three expression constructs consisting of the full-length cDNA driven by the drought-inducible promoter of OsLEA3-1 (OsLEA3-H), the CaMV 35S promoter (OsLEA3-S), and the rice Actin1 promoter (OsLEA3-A) were transformed into the drought-sensitive japonica rice Zhonghua 11. Drought resistance pre-screening of T 1 families at anthesis stage revealed that the over-expressing families with OsLEA3-S and OsLEA3-H constructs had significantly higher relative yield (yield under drought stress treatment/yield under normal growth conditions) than the wild type under drought stress conditions, although a yield penalty existed in T 1 families under normal growth conditions. Nine homozygous families, exhibiting over-expression of a single-copy of the transgene and relatively low yield penalty in the T 1 generation, were tested in the field for drought resistance in the T 2 and T 3 generations and in the PVC pipes for drought tolerance in the T 2 generation. Except for two families (transformed with OsLEA3-A), all the other families (transformed with OsLEA3-S and OsLEA3-H constructs) had higher grain yield than the wild type under drought stress in both the field and the PVC pipes conditions. No significant yield penalty was detected for these T 2 and T 3 families. These results indicate that transgenic rice with significantly enhanced drought resistance and without yield penalty can be generated by over-expressing OsLEA3-1 gene with appropriate promoters and following a bipartite (stress and non-stress) in-field screening protocol. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png TAG Theoretical and Applied Genetics Springer Journals

Over-expression of a LEA gene in rice improves drought resistance under the field conditions

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References (70)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by Springer-Verlag
Subject
Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Biochemistry, general; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Sciences ; Agriculture; Plant Genetics & Genomics
ISSN
0040-5752
eISSN
1432-2242
DOI
10.1007/s00122-007-0538-9
pmid
17426956
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins have been implicated in many stress responses of plants. In this report, a LEA protein gene OsLEA3-1 was identified and over-expressed in rice to test the drought resistance of transgenic lines under the field conditions. OsLEA3-1 is induced by drought, salt and abscisic acid (ABA), but not by cold stress. The promoter of OsLEA3-1 isolated from the upland rice IRAT109 exhibits strong activity under drought- and salt-stress conditions. Three expression constructs consisting of the full-length cDNA driven by the drought-inducible promoter of OsLEA3-1 (OsLEA3-H), the CaMV 35S promoter (OsLEA3-S), and the rice Actin1 promoter (OsLEA3-A) were transformed into the drought-sensitive japonica rice Zhonghua 11. Drought resistance pre-screening of T 1 families at anthesis stage revealed that the over-expressing families with OsLEA3-S and OsLEA3-H constructs had significantly higher relative yield (yield under drought stress treatment/yield under normal growth conditions) than the wild type under drought stress conditions, although a yield penalty existed in T 1 families under normal growth conditions. Nine homozygous families, exhibiting over-expression of a single-copy of the transgene and relatively low yield penalty in the T 1 generation, were tested in the field for drought resistance in the T 2 and T 3 generations and in the PVC pipes for drought tolerance in the T 2 generation. Except for two families (transformed with OsLEA3-A), all the other families (transformed with OsLEA3-S and OsLEA3-H constructs) had higher grain yield than the wild type under drought stress in both the field and the PVC pipes conditions. No significant yield penalty was detected for these T 2 and T 3 families. These results indicate that transgenic rice with significantly enhanced drought resistance and without yield penalty can be generated by over-expressing OsLEA3-1 gene with appropriate promoters and following a bipartite (stress and non-stress) in-field screening protocol.

Journal

TAG Theoretical and Applied Genetics – Springer Journals

Published: Jun 1, 2007

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