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Arabidopsis DREB1A/CBF3 bestowed transgenic tall fescue increased tolerance to drought stress

  • Genetic Transformation and Hybridization
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Abstract

In order to improve drought tolerance of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), an important perennial cool-season grass, we introduced Arabidopsis DREB1A/CBF3 driven by the inducible rd29A promoter into tall fescue mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains AGL1. PCR and Southern blot analysis confirmed that DREB1A/CBF3 gene had been integrated into the genome of tall fescue. AtDREB1A gene was stably inherited and expressed in T1 plants, as indicated by PCR, RT-PCR and Western blotting analysis. The transgenic plants also showed an increased expression of AtP5CS2, which was confirmed to be a downstream target gene of DREB in Arabidopsis. We found that the transgenic tall fescue showed increased resistance to drought and accumulated high level of proline, indicating ability of the CBF3 gene to induce stress related response in tall fescue. The result here provides evidence for drought improvement of tall fescue via transformation with stress-related transcription factor and stress-induced promoter.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

CaMV:

Cauliflower mosaic virus

CBF:

C-repeat-binding factor

CRT:

C-repeat

DRE:

Dehydration-responsive element

DREB:

DRE-binding protein

P5C:

Δ1-Pyrroline-5-carboxylate

P5CS:

Δ1-Pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase

RT:

Reverse transcription

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Transgenic Fund of China (Project No.: 2003/5250322) and National Basic Research Program of China (Project No.: 2006CB100100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Shan Da Nan Lu 27, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, China

    Junsheng Zhao, Wei Ren, Daying Zhi, Lin Wang & Guangmin Xia

Authors
  1. Junsheng Zhao
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  2. Wei Ren
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  3. Daying Zhi
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  4. Lin Wang
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  5. Guangmin Xia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guangmin Xia.

Additional information

Communicated by J. Zou.

Junsheng Zhao and Wei Ren contributed equally to the work.

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Zhao, J., Ren, W., Zhi, D. et al. Arabidopsis DREB1A/CBF3 bestowed transgenic tall fescue increased tolerance to drought stress. Plant Cell Rep 26, 1521–1528 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-007-0362-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-007-0362-3

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