2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Application of a stress-responsive transcription factor to stress-tolerant transgenic trees
| Project/Area Number |
16580126
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
林学・森林工学
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| Research Institution | Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) |
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Principal Investigator |
NANJO Tokihiko FFPRI, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Senior researcher, 生物工学研究領域, 主任研究官 (50370284)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2005
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| Keywords | environmental stress / ERF / AP2 domain transcription factor / expressed sequence tags / full-length cDNA / Populus |
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| Research Abstract |
ERF/AP2-domain proteins are a transcription factor specific to plants. These proteins are involved in floral development, ethylene-mediated signal transduction and environmental stress responses. The ERF/AP2 protein family includes dehydration-responsive element (DRE)-binding transcription factors (DREB1/CBF and DREB2), which regulate many stress-induced genes in Arabidopsis, rice and maize. cDNAs for a series of DREB1/CBF and DREB2 proteins were cloned as transfactors interacting with the DRE/CRT cis-acting element, which responds to cold or osmotic stress. To improve environmental stress tolerance in forest trees, we introduced Arabidopsis DREB1A gene into poplar (Populus nigra L.var. italica Koehne) by an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated method. In total, 40 lines of transgenic poplar were constructed and further analyzed. None of these however showed stunted phenotypes or stress tolerance reported in Arabidopsis. As an Arabidopsis-derived transcription factor might not act expectedly in woody plants, we tried to find the homologous genes that belong to the ERF/AP2 protein family in poplar. Twenty five of genes encoding ERF/AP2 proteins were found in our poplar full-length cDNA collection and 11 of these were to belong to the DREB subfamily. Some clones encoding DREB proteins were found to be upregulated in response to stress treatments. These findings must be useful for understanding stress physiology and genetic modification in forest trees.
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