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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 />

283<br />

advantage <strong>of</strong> this technique is that only one regulatory gene needs to be overexpressed<br />

<strong>and</strong> the stress tolerance however, is due to the induction <strong>of</strong> many genes (Zhang et. al.,<br />

2004). There are three transcriptional activator CBF/DREB1 (C-repeat binding factor or<br />

dehydration responsive element binding) genes in Arabidopsis. Overexpression <strong>of</strong> a<br />

cDNA for cis-acting promoter element DREB1A in transgenic plants improved tolerance<br />

<strong>of</strong> plants to drought, salt loading, <strong>and</strong> freezing (Kasuga et al., 1999). When CBF1<br />

was overexpressed in Arabidopsis it induced the expression <strong>of</strong> cold-regulated genes<br />

(COR) <strong>and</strong> increased freezing tolerance (Jaglo-Ottosen et. al., 1998; Stockinger et. al.,<br />

1997). Similarly, plants over-expressing CBF3, which shows constitutive accumulation<br />

<strong>of</strong> COR15am <strong>and</strong> COR6.6 proteins, <strong>and</strong> increased accumulation <strong>of</strong> proline <strong>and</strong> sucrose,<br />

develop greater freezing tolerance than wild-type after 7–14 d in the cold (Gilmour et al.,<br />

2000; Jaglo-Ottosen et. al., 1998; Kasuga et. al., 1999; Liu et. al., 1998). CBF4, a gene<br />

coding for a protein homologous to CBF/DREB1, when overexpressed in transgenic<br />

plants resulted in the expression <strong>of</strong> cold- <strong>and</strong> drought-induced genes under non-stress<br />

conditions, <strong>and</strong> improved the plants’ tolerance to drought <strong>and</strong> freezing (Haake et. al.,<br />

2002). Transgenic Arabidopsis plants with high inducible levels <strong>of</strong> transcription factor<br />

AtMYB2, which is critical for the expression <strong>of</strong> ADH (alcohol dehyrogenase) gene<br />

showed higher drought resistance (Dolferus et. al., 2003). Alfin1 cDNA from alfalfa<br />

encodes a novel member <strong>of</strong> the zinc-finger family <strong>of</strong> proteins <strong>and</strong> is modulated by<br />

sodium chloride. Transgenic overexpression <strong>of</strong> Alfin1 in alfalfa enhanced the salinity<br />

tolerance (Winicov <strong>and</strong> Bastola, 1999). Overexpression <strong>of</strong> a zinc finger protein (SCOF-<br />

1) responsible for induction <strong>of</strong> COR gene expression resulted in enhanced low temperature<br />

tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis <strong>and</strong> tobacco (Kim et al., 2002) Arabidopsis<br />

plants with transformed transcriptional activator gene (AB13) exhibited higher freezing<br />

tolerance due to enhancement <strong>of</strong> ABA-induced expression <strong>of</strong> genes for cold acclimation<br />

(Tamminen et. al., 2001). Vannini et al. (2004) demonstrated that transient expression<br />

<strong>of</strong> Osmyb4 gene from rice in Arabidopsis transactivates PAL2, ScD9 SAD <strong>and</strong><br />

COR15a cold inducible promoters. Myb4-overexpressing plants showed a significant<br />

increase in cold <strong>and</strong> freezing tolerance. Overexpression <strong>of</strong> heat stress transcription<br />

factor (HsfA1) in tomato plants displayed higher thermotolerance (Mishra et. al., 2002).<br />

Following initial studies in Arabidopsis, many more investigations have demonstrated<br />

the validity <strong>of</strong> regulon engineering to achieve increased stress tolerance in several<br />

crops (Kim et. al., 2001; Park et. al., 2001; Hsieh et. al., 2002a <strong>and</strong> 2002b; Owens et. al.,<br />

2002; Dubouzet et. al., 2003; Shou et al., 2004).<br />

6. CONCLUSIONS<br />

Many stress tolerant mechanisms in plants have now been understood at least partially.<br />

Transgenic plants will continue to be used as important tools to dissect these<br />

mechanisms. As our underst<strong>and</strong>ing increases, further <strong>and</strong> new opportunities for metabolic<br />

engineering will emerge. We conclude that the following three avenues <strong>of</strong> re-

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