scholarly journals Overexpression of StDREB2 Transcription Factor Enhances Drought Stress Tolerance in Cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.)

Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed El-Esawi ◽  
Aisha Alayafi
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Drought Stress ◽  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Oilseed Crop ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Ros Scavenging ◽  
Antioxidant Genes ◽  
Drought Stress Tolerance

Drought stress significantly restricts plant growth and crop productivity. Cotton is the most important textile fiber and oilseed crop worldwide, and its cultivation is affected by drought stress, particularly in dry regions. Improving cotton tolerance to drought stress using the advanced genetic engineering technologies is a promising strategy to maintain crop production and fiber quality and meet the increasing worldwide fiber and oil demand. Dehydration-responsive element binding (DREB) transcription factors play a main role in regulating stresses-tolerance pathways in plant. This study investigated whether potato DREB2 (StDREB2) overexpression can improve drought tolerance in cotton. StDREB2 transcription factor was isolated and overexpressed in cotton. Plant biomass, boll number, relative water content, soluble sugars content, soluble protein content, chlorophyll content, proline content, gas-exchange parameters, and antioxidants enzymes (POD, CAT, SOD, GST) activity of the StDREB2-overexpressing cotton plants were higher than those of wild type plants. By contrast, the contents of malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion of StDREB2-overexpressing transgenic plants were significantly lower than that of the wild type plants. Moreover, the transgenic cotton lines revealed higher expression levels of antioxidant genes (SOD, CAT, POD, GST) and stress-tolerant genes (GhERF2, GhNAC3, GhRD22, GhDREB1A, GhDREB1B, GhDREB1C) compared to wild-type plants. Taken together, these findings showed that StDREB2 overexpression augments drought stress tolerance in cotton by inducing plant biomass, gas-exchange characteristics, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, antioxidant enzymes activities, osmolytes accumulation, and expression of stress-related genes. As a result, StDREB2 could be an important candidate gene for drought-tolerant cotton breeding.

scholarly journals Overexpression of AtWRKY30 Transcription Factor Enhances Heat and Drought Stress Tolerance in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed A. El-Esawi ◽  
Abdullah A. Al-Ghamdi ◽  
Hayssam M. Ali ◽  
Margaret Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Drought Stress ◽  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Soluble Sugars ◽  
Wheat Yield ◽  
Triticum Aestivum L ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Potential Candidate Gene

Drought and heat factors have negative impacts on wheat yield and growth worldwide. Improving wheat tolerance to heat and drought stress is of the utmost importance to maintain crop yield. WRKY transcription factors help improve plant resistance to environmental factors. In this investigation, Arabidopsis WRKY30 (AtWRKY30) transcription factor was cloned and expressed in wheat. Plants growth, biomass, gas-exchange attributes, chlorophyll content, relative water content, prolines content, soluble proteins content, soluble sugars content, and antioxidant enzymes activities (catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POX), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX)) of the AtWRKY30-overexpressing wheat plants were higher than those of the wild type. However, levels of electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde, and hydrogen peroxide of the AtWRKY30-overexpressing wheat plants were significantly less than those of the wild-type. Additionally, the expression level of antioxidant enzyme-encoding genes and stress-responsive genes (ERF5a, DREB1, DREB3, WRKY19, TIP2, and AQP7) were significantly induced in the transgenic wheat plants in comparison with the wild type. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that AtWRKY30 overexpression promotes heat and drought tolerance in wheat by inducing gas-exchange attributes, antioxidant machinery, osmolytes biosynthesis, and stress-related gene expression. AtWRKY30 could serve as a potential candidate gene for improving stress tolerance in wheat.

scholarly journals Rapid method of screening for drought stress tolerance in maize (Zea mays L.)

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhupender Kumar ◽  
Krishan Kumar ◽  
Shankar Lal Jat ◽  
Shraddha Srivastava ◽  
Tanu Tiwari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Antioxidant Genes ◽  
Screening Technique ◽  
Drought Stress Tolerance ◽  
Hydroponic Solution ◽  
Drought Screening

Drought stress is the major production constraint in rainfed maize. Screening for drought tolerance is severely affected by the lack of a simple and reliable phenotyping technique. The objective of this study was to standardize a simple hydroponic based drought screening technique in maize. In this context, one week old uniform seedlings of 55 inbreds and 5 hybrids were transferred to hydroponic solution in the glass house. The seedlings were allowed to acclimatize for next one week in hydroponic solution. The drought stress was imposed by removing seedlings from nutrient solution and exposed to air for 6 and 4 hours daily for a period of 5 and 4 consecutive days in hybrids and inbreds, respectively. Data were recorded on all shoot and root parameters, and based on stress symptoms, a drought tolerance score was given to each genotype. The percent deductions in shoot and root fresh weight from non-stress to stress ranged from 11.7 to 84.4 and 2.1 to 77.5, respectively. Six inbred lines, namely, DQL790-4, CML334, CM140, CML422, CM125 and HKI488 and three hybrids namely DMRH1306, DMRH1410 and PMH4 were found drought tolerant. The effectiveness of this screening technique was compared and confirmed using pots screening as well as by expression profiling of key antioxidant genes (Sod2, Sod4, Sod9 and Apx1) playing role in drought stress tolerance. This phenotyping technique is very short, low cost and simple which can be utilized in preliminary drought screening for large set of maize germplasm and mapping populations.

scholarly journals Overexpression of AtAHL20 causes delayed flowering in Arabidopsis via repression of  FT expression

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuben Tayengwa ◽  
Pushpa Sharma-Koirala ◽  
Courtney F. Pierce ◽  
Breanna E Werner ◽  
Michael M Neff
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Transgenic Plants ◽  
Gene Family ◽  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Flowering Time ◽  
Camelina Sativa ◽  
Negative Regulator ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Late Flowering ◽  
Drought Stress Tolerance

Abstract Background The 29-member Arabidopsis AHL gene family is classified into three main classes based on nucleotide and protein sequence evolutionary differences. These differences include the presence or absence of introns, type and/or number of conserved AT-hook and PPC domains. AHL gene family members are divided into two phylogenetic clades, Clade-A and Clade-B. A majority of the 29 members remain functionally uncharacterized. Furthermore, the biological significance of the DNA and peptide sequence diversity, observed in the conserved motifs and domains found in the different AHL types, is a subject area that remains largely unexplored. Results Transgenic plants overexpressing AtAHL20 flowered later than the wild type. Transcript accumulation analyses showed that 35S:AtAHL20 plants contained reduced FT, TSF, AGL8 and SPL3 mRNA levels. Similarly, overexpression of AtAHL20’s orthologue in Camelina sativa, Arabidopsis’ closely related Brassicaceae family member species, conferred a late-flowering phenotype via suppression of CsFT expression. In addition, 35S:AtAHL20 seedlings exhibited suppressed hypocotyl length and enhanced water stress tolerance. However, overexpression of an aberrant AtAHL20 gene harboring a missense mutation in the AT-hook domain’s highly conserved R-G-R core motif abolished the late-flowering phenotype. Data from targeted yeast-two-hybrid assays showed that AtAHL20 interacted with itself and several other Clade-A Type-I AHLs which have been previously implicated in flowering-time regulation: AtAHL22, AtAHL27 and AtAHL29. Conclusion We showed via gain-function analysis that AtAHL20 is a negative regulator of FT expression, as well as other downstream flowering time regulating genes. A similar outcome in Camelina sativa transgenic plants overexpressing CsAHL20 suggest that this is a conserved function. Additionally, overexpression of AtAHL20 resulted in shorter hypocotyls and enhanced drought stress tolerance compared to wild-type plants. Our results demonstrate that AtAHL20 is a negative regulator of transition to flowering and hypocotyl elongation, but a positive regulator of drought stress tolerance.

scholarly journals CsATAF1 Positively Regulates Drought Stress Tolerance by an ABA-Dependent Pathway and by Promoting ROS Scavenging in Cucumber

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 930-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinfang Wang ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Yunyun Cao ◽  
Chuandong Qi ◽  
Shuangtao Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Ros Scavenging ◽  
Drought Stress Tolerance ◽  
Dependent Pathway
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