Identification of genes responsible for heat and salinity stress tolerances via FOX hunting among collection of E. salsugineum cDNAs

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24580483
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Boundary agriculture
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture
• Principal Investigator: TAJI Teruaki 東京農業大学, 応用生物科学部, 准教授 (60360583)
• Research Collaborator: HIGASHI Yukari ; ARIGA Hirotaka ; SASO Yasutaka ; NAGASHIMA Yuko ; FUKUUCHI Takuya
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 塩生植物 / 完全長cDNA / 耐塩性 / 高温耐性 / トランスジェニック植物 / シロイヌナズナ / Thellungiella / Eutrema salsugineum

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Eutrema salsugineum (also known as Thellungiella salsuginea), a species closely related to Arabidopsis thaliana, shows tolerance not only to salt stress, but also to chilling, freezing, and high temperatures. To identify genes responsible for stress tolerance, we conducted Full-length cDNA Over-eXpressing gene (FOX) hunting among a collection of E. salsugineum cDNAs that were stress-induced according to gene ontology analysis or over-expressed in E. salsugineum compared with A. thaliana. In this study, we identified E. salsugineum HsfA1d (TsHsfA1d) via the FOX hunting as a gene that can confer marked heat tolerance on A. thaliana. Transgenic A. thaliana overexpressing TsHsfA1d showed constitutive up-regulation of many genes in the A. thaliana AtHsfA1 regulon under normal growth temperature. We propose that the products of TsHsfA1d function as positive regulators of A. thaliana heat-stress response and would be useful for the improvement of heat-stress tolerance in other plants.

Free Research Field

植物遺伝子工学