Open AccessExpression of Arabidopsis Bax Inhibitor‐1 in transgenic sugarcane confers drought tolerance
Author(s) -
Ramiro Daniel Alves,
MelottoPassarin Danila Montewka,
Barbosa Mariana de Almeida,
Santos Flavio dos,
Gomez Sergio Gregorio Perez,
Massola Júnior Nelson Sidnei,
Lam Eric,
Carrer Helaine
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plant biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.525
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1467-7652
pISSN - 1467-7644
DOI - 10.1111/pbi.12540
Subject(s) - biology , arabidopsis , tunicamycin , genetically modified crops , abiotic stress , drought tolerance , arabidopsis thaliana , crop , transgene , abiotic component , agronomy , endoplasmic reticulum , botany , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , unfolded protein response , mutant , genetics , ecology
Summary The sustainability of global crop production is critically dependent on improving tolerance of crop plants to various types of environmental stress. Thus, identification of genes that confer stress tolerance in crops has become a top priority especially in view of expected changes in global climatic patterns. Drought stress is one of the abiotic stresses that can result in dramatic loss of crop productivity. In this work, we show that transgenic expression of a highly conserved cell death suppressor, Bax Inhibitor‐1 from Arabidopsis thaliana ( At BI ‐1 ), can confer increased tolerance of sugarcane plants to long‐term (>20 days) water stress conditions. This robust trait is correlated with an increased tolerance of the transgenic sugarcane plants, especially in the roots, to induction of endoplasmic reticulum ( ER ) stress by the protein glycosylation inhibitor tunicamycin. Our findings suggest that suppression of ER stress in C 4 grasses, which include important crops such as sorghum and maize, can be an effective means of conferring improved tolerance to long‐term water deficit. This result could potentially lead to improved resilience and yield of major crops in the world.