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Overexpression of Arabidopsis ABF3 gene confers enhanced tolerance to drought and heat stress in creeping bentgrass

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Abstract

The Arabidopsis, abscisic acid responsive element-binding factor 3, ABF3 is known to play an important role in stress responses via regulating the expression of stress-responsive genes. In this study, we introduced pCAMBIA3301 vector harboring the ABF3 gene into creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in order to develop a stress-tolerant variety of turfgrass. After transformation, putative transgenic plants were selected using the herbicide resistance assay. Genomic integration of the transgene was confirmed by genomic PCR and Southern blot analysis, and gene expression was validated by northern blot analysis. Under drought-stressed condition, the transgenic plants overexpressing ABF3 displayed significantly enhanced drought tolerance with higher water content and slower water loss rate than the control plants. Furthermore, the stomata of the ABF3 transgenic plants closed more than those of wild-type creeping bentgrass plants, under both non-stressed and ABA treatment conditions. In addition, the transgenic plants showed enhanced tolerance to heat stress. These results suggest that the overexpression of the ABF3 gene in creeping bentgrass might enhance survival in water-limiting and high temperature environments through increased stomatal closure and reduced water losses.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Kumho Life Science Laboratory in Chonnam National University for providing plant growth facilities. This work was supported by Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea (Grant # PJ00797804), and by Technology Development Program for Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of Korea (Grant # 309017-5).

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  1. Department of Biotechnology and Kumho Life Science Laboratory, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea

    Yun-Sung Choi, Yong-Min Kim, Ok-Jin Hwang, Yun-Jeong Han, Soo Young Kim & Jeong-Il Kim

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  1. Yun-Sung Choi
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  2. Yong-Min Kim
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  3. Ok-Jin Hwang
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  4. Yun-Jeong Han
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  5. Soo Young Kim
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  6. Jeong-Il Kim
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Correspondence to Jeong-Il Kim.

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Choi, YS., Kim, YM., Hwang, OJ. et al. Overexpression of Arabidopsis ABF3 gene confers enhanced tolerance to drought and heat stress in creeping bentgrass. Plant Biotechnol Rep 7, 165–173 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-012-0245-0

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