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Physiology and Molecular Biology of Stress ... - KHAM PHA MOI

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Metabolic Engineering for <strong>Stress</strong> Tolerance<br />

273<br />

role in metal homeostasis <strong>and</strong> tolerance. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing ZAT1 or<br />

AtMTP1, encoding a putative zinc transporter in the CDF family <strong>of</strong> membrane transporters,<br />

accumulated higher zinc concentrations in their roots <strong>and</strong> also displayed better<br />

root growth in comparison to controls, when grown in a hydroponic media containing<br />

200 ìM zinc. (Van der Zaal et. al., 1999; Maser et. al., 2001). Overexpression <strong>of</strong> PtdMTP1<br />

(Populus trichocarpa x deltoids metal tolerance protein), in Arabidopsis conferred Zn<br />

tolerance (Blaudez et. al., 2003).<br />

Figure. 5. Glutathione mediated sequestration <strong>of</strong> Cadmium (Modified from<br />

Cobbett et al., 2000). Phytochelatin synthesis shown in the cytoplasm is a 3-step<br />

pathway. LMWPC-Cd refers to low molecular weight complex <strong>of</strong> PC <strong>and</strong> Cd <strong>and</strong><br />

HMW PC-Cd shown in the vacuole refers to high molecular weight complex<br />

3.2.6. Citrate Synthesis <strong>and</strong> Other Metabolic Targets<br />

Some plants have a capacity to tolerate Al toxicity by the process <strong>of</strong> exclusion <strong>of</strong> uptake<br />

from the root. These plants release organic acids such as citric acid, which chelates Al 3+<br />

outside the plasma membrane. Transgenic tobacco, papaya <strong>and</strong> Arabidopsis that<br />

overexpressed a citrate synthase gene (CSb) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa in their<br />

cytoplasm showed higher tolerance against Al toxicity (de la Fuente et. al., 1997; Koyama<br />

et. al., 2000; Lopez-Bucio et. al., 2000; Guerinot, 2001). In alfalfa, overexpression <strong>of</strong> two<br />

genes encoding enzymes phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) <strong>and</strong> malate dehy-

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