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Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Physiological basis of salt stress tolerance in rice expressing the antiapoptotic gene SfIAP

Thi My Linh Hoang A , Brett Williams A , Harjeet Khanna A , James Dale A and Sagadevan G. Mundree A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities, Queensland University of Technology, PO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: sagadevan.mundree@qut.edu.au

This paper originates from a presentation at the ‘Interdrought IV Conference’ Perth, Australia, 2–6 September 2013.

Functional Plant Biology 41(11) 1168-1177 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP13308
Submitted: 23 October 2013  Accepted: 20 January 2014   Published: 14 February 2014

Abstract

Programmed cell death-associated genes, especially antiapoptosis-related genes have been reported to confer tolerance to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses in dicotyledonous plants such as tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). This is the first time the antiapoptotic gene SfIAP was transformed into a monocotyledonous representative: rice (Oryza sativa L.). Transgenic rice strains expressing SfIAP were generated by the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method and rice embryogenic calli, and assessed for their ability to confer tolerance to salt stress at both the seedling and reproductive stages using a combination of molecular, agronomical, physiological and biochemical techniques. The results show that plants expressing SfIAP have higher salt tolerance levels in comparison to the wild-type and vector controls. By preventing cell death at the onset of salt stress and maintaining the cell membrane’s integrity, SfIAP transgenic rice plants can retain plant water status, ion homeostasis, photosynthetic efficiency and growth to combat salinity successfully.

Additional keywords: cell life, NaCl, programmed cell death, terminal doxynucleotidyl transferase d-UTP nick end labelling, TUNEL.


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