Abstract
The DREB transcription factors, which specifically interact with C-repeat/DRE (A/GCCGAC), play an important role in plant abiotic stress tolerance by controlling the expression of many cold or/and drought-inducible genes in an ABA-independent pathway. We have isolated three novel rice DREB genes, OsDREB1E, OsDREB1G, and OsDREB2B, which are homologous to Arabidopsis DREB genes. The yeast one-hybrid assay indicated that OsDREB1E, OsDREB1G, and OsDREB2B can specifically bind to the C-repeat/DRE element. To elucidate the function of respective OsDREB genes, we have stably introduced these to rice by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic rice plants analysis revealed that over-expression of OsDREB1G and OsDREB2B in rice significantly improved their tolerance to water deficit stress, while over-expression of OsDREB1E could only slightly improved the tolerance to water deficit stress, suggesting that the OsDREBs might participate in the stress response pathway in different manners.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr Fan Chen (Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for providing the vectors of pHisi-1 and pLacZi. We also thank Dr. Junli Zhou and Dr. Chengcai Chu for critical reading of the manuscript. This research is supported by a grant of Chinese National Nature Science Foundation (30770211) and by the 863 High-tech Project from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2007AA10Z185).
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Chen, JQ., Meng, XP., Zhang, Y. et al. Over-expression of OsDREB genes lead to enhanced drought tolerance in rice. Biotechnol Lett 30, 2191–2198 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9811-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9811-5