Engineering Chickpea Variety HC-1 with OsRuvB Gene for Salt Stress Tolerance
Background: Salinity is a major problem worldwide and is increasing day by day. Salt stress causes severe yield losses in crop plants and the damages in chickpea are up to 100%. To overcome these losses, the present study was undertaken to develop transgenic chickpea plants (var. HC-1) carrying OsRuvB gene for salt stress tolerance. Methods: Transgenic chickpea plants harboring OsRuvB gene were developed using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. T0 putative transgenic chickpea plants were screened for the presence of OsRuvB gene through PCR using gene specific primers. The stable integration and copy number of transgene in transgenic chickpea plants were confirmed through Southern hybridization and qRT-PCR. T1 generation transgenic chickpea plants were screened for the presence of OsRuvB gene using direct PCR (Phire Direct PCR kit). Result: PCR-based screening of putative transformants using gene-specific primers showed a transformation frequency of 17%. Southern blot and real-time PCR analysis revealed stable and single-copy insertion. In T1 generation a total of 74 plants (out of 170) showed the presence of OsRuvB gene. The engineered lines developed in the present investigation can be further undertaken to develop transgenic chickpea plants for salt stress tolerance.