Abstract
Increasing soil salinization of arable land has a major impact on the global ecosystem. One approach to increase the usable global forest area is to develop transgenic trees with higher tolerance to conditions of salt stress. An allene oxide cyclase homolog, mangrin, contains a core protein domain that enhances the salt tolerance of its host. We utilized this feature to develop improved salt-tolerant eucalyptus trees, by using transgenic Eucalyptus camaldulensis carrying the mangrin gene as a model. Since the Japanese government requires an environmental biosafety assessment for the surrounding biosphere, we performed experiments on trees grown in a special netted-house. This study examined the transgenic E. camaldulensis carrying the mangrin gene to assess the feasibility of using these transformants, and assessed their salt tolerance and environmental biosafety. We found that seven of 36 transgenic genotypes had significantly higher salt tolerance than non-transformants, and more importantly, that these plants had no significant impact on environmental biosafety. These results suggest that introduction of the mangrin gene may be one approach to safely enhance salt tolerance in genetically modified Eucalyptus species, and that the transformants have no apparent risks in terms of environmental biosafety. Thus, this study provides valuable information regarding the use of transgenic trees in situ.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen CD, Breshears DD (1998) Drought-induced shift of a forest—woodland ecotone: rapid landscape response to climate variation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:14839–14842
Eldridge K, Davidson J, Harwood C, Wyk GV (1993) Eucalypt domestication and breeding. Oxford University Press, London
FAO (1981) Utilization. In: Eucalyptus for plantation. FAO forestry series no. 11, pp 247–296
Fujii Y, Parez SS, Parvez MM, Ohmae Y, Iida O (2003) Screening of 239 medicinal plant species for allelopathic activity using the sandwich method. Weed Biol Manag 3:233–241
Fujii Y, Shibuya T, Nakatani K, Itani T, Hiradate S, Parvez MM (2004) Assessment method for allelopathic effect from leaf litter leachates. Weed Biol Manag 4:19–23
Kawaoka A, Nanto K, Ishii K, Ebinuma H (2006) Reduction of lignin content by suppression of expression of the LIM domain transcription factor in Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Silvae Genet 55:269–277
Kikuchi A, Kawaoka A, Shimazaki T, Yu X, Ebinuma H, Watanabe KN (2006) Trait stability and environmental biosafety assessments on three transgenic Eucalyptus lines (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. codA 12–5B, codA 12–5C, codA 20-C) conferring salt tolerance. Breeding Res 8:17–26 (in Japanese)
Kikuchi A, Yu X, Shimazaki T, Kawaoka A, Ebinuma H, Watanabe KN (2009) Allelopathy assessments for the environmental biosafety of the salt-tolerant transgenic Eucalyptus camaldulensis, genotypes codA 12–5B, codA 12-5C, and codA 20C. J Wood Sci 55:149–153
Kozlowski TT (1997) Responses of woody plants to flooding and salinity. Tree Physiol Monogr 1:1–29
Murakami A (2006) Development of salt tolerant Eucalyptus globulus selection. Jpn TAPPI J 60:69–74 (in Japanese)
Myers N (1996) Environmental services of biodiversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:2764–2769
Naidoo R, Adamowicz WL (2005) Economic benefits of biodiversity exceed costs of conservation at an African rainforest reserve. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:16712–16716
Norby RJ, Wullschleger SD, Gunderson CA, Johnson DW, Ceulemans R (1999) Tree responses to rising CO2 in field experiments: implications for the future forest. Plant Cell Environ 22:683–714
Shiomi M, Asakawa Y, Fukumoto F, Hamaya E, Hasebe A, Ichikawa H, Matsuda I, Muramatsu T, Okada M, Sato M, Ukai Y, Yokoyama K, Motoyoshi F, Ohashi Y, Ugaki M, Noguchi K (1992) Evaluation of the impact of the release of transgenic tomato plants with TMV resistance on the environment. Bull Natl Inst Agro-Environ Sci Jpn 8:1–51. ISSN 0911-9450 (in Japanese with English summary)
Shirasawa-Seo N, Sano Y, Nakamura S, Murakami T, Gotoh Y, Naito Y, Hsia CY, Seo S, Mitsuhara I, Kosugi S, Ohashi Y (2005) The promoter of Milk vetch dwarf virus component 8 confers effective gene expression in both dicot and monocot plants. Plant Cell Rep 24:155–163
Tabei Y (1999) Environmental risk assessment of transgenic melon in Japan. Plant Biotechnol 16:65–68
Taylor D (1997) Seeing the forests for the more than the trees. Environ Health Persp 105:1186–1191
Yamada A, Saitoh T, Mimura T, Ozeki Y (2002) Expression of mangrove allene oxide cyclase enhances salt tolerance in Escherichia coli, yeast, and tobacco cells. Plant Cell Physiol 43:903–910
Yu X, Kikuchi A, Matsunaga E, Morishita Y, Nanto K, Sakurai N, Suzuki H, Shibata D, Shimada T, Watanabe KN (2009) Establishment of the evaluation system of salt tolerance on transgenic woody plants in the special netted-house. Plant Biotechnol 26:135–141
Acknowledgments
This research was supported, in part by the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) and by Grant-in-Aid #21248001. This work was also supported, in part, by the joint research program “Plant Transgenic Research Design, University of Tsukuba”.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yu, X., Kikuchi, A., Shimazaki, T. et al. Assessment of the salt tolerance and environmental biosafety of Eucalyptus camaldulensis harboring a mangrin transgene. J Plant Res 126, 141–150 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-012-0503-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-012-0503-9