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Functional validation of a drought-responsive AP2/ERF family transcription factor-encoding gene from rice in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

A water-deficit stress (WDS)-responsive transcription factor-encoding gene isolated from drought-tolerant Oryza sativa L. cv. N-22 corresponding to the AP2/ERF family and named AP2/ERF-N22, when overexpressed in Arabidopsis under a constitutive promoter, showed improved turgor and less wilting as compared to wild-type plants under WDS. However, the transgenic plants showed phenotypic aberrations such as stunted growth, smaller silique size, reduced number of seeds and delayed flowering. Physio-biochemical analysis of T2 plants revealed higher relative water content, membrane stability index, capacity to scavenge reactive oxygen species and increased levels of proline, carotenoids, wax and abscisic acid content under WDS. Higher abscisic acid content resulted in reduced stomatal conductance and transpiration rate. The reduced chlorophyll content also leads to reduced photosynthetic rate and efficiency. Thus, this gene may be exploited for enhanced drought tolerance in crop plants.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from SERB (DST). National Phytotron Facility and NRCPB, New Delhi, for the facilities required to carry out the various experiments.

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  1. Division of Biochemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 12, India

    Ibandalin Mawlong, Kishwar Ali, R. D. Rai & Aruna Tyagi

  2. National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, 12, India

    R. Srinivasan

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  1. Ibandalin Mawlong
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  2. Kishwar Ali
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Correspondence to Aruna Tyagi.

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Mawlong, I., Ali, K., Srinivasan, R. et al. Functional validation of a drought-responsive AP2/ERF family transcription factor-encoding gene from rice in Arabidopsis . Mol Breeding 35, 163 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-015-0290-9

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