Title: Tadof1 enhances carbon and nitrogen assimilation in transgenic wheat under nitrogen defecient conditions
Abstract:
The expression of a set of genes in a metabolic pathway can be regulated by a single transcription factor (TF). The use of TFs can, therefore, be a promising strategy for generating plants with superior traits. Triticum aestivum Dof1 TF is known to regulate nitrogen assimilation in plants. The present study was aimed at the development of transgenic wheat overexpressing TaDof1 by using a constitutive promoter. The transgenic wheat was developed by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. For the transformation study, two cultivars of wheat (Galaxy and Faisalabad-2008) were selected. The screening of T0 plants was done on a selection medium with BASTA (herbicide). The results of PCR using gene-junction primers confirmed the integration of complete TaDof1 cassette in 8 out of 31 plants. The transformation efficiency of 0.08% and 0.46% was obtained for Faisalaad-2008 and Galaxy, respectively. In order to check the expression level of genes regulated by TaDof1, T1 plants were grown under nitrogen-deficient conditions and subjected to quantitative RT-PCR. After 4 weeks of nitrogen stress, a significant increase in the expression of genes regulated by TaDof1 was observed. These genes include isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH), citrate synthase (CS), pyruvate kinase (PK) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), while ICDH exhibited the maximum fold increase of 464. Our findings reveal that TaDof1 modulates nitrogen and carbon metabolism pathways as they cross-talk with each other. Moreover, there was a notable increase in different agronomic traits in transgenic wheat overexpressing TaDof1. A profound change was observed in various biochemical and physiological markers which include protein content, soluble sugar content and chlorophyll content compared to wild-type plants. The outcomes of the study clearly indicate the merits of engineering plant metabolism with transcription factors. The overall impact on the entire nitrogen metabolic pathway resulting in enhanced nitrogen assimilation will lead to better crop yields.
Audience Take Away Notes:
- Audience will get to know about the importance of developing genetically modified crops
- They would gain insight into the basic principal of developing GM crops
- Since it is an applied research, the findings of this study can be used to develop future projects targeting the genes involved in nitrogen assimilation pathway
- The presentation would help faculty to develop projects on molecular characterization of transcription factors regulating vital pathways
- The presentation would help faculty to develop projects on introducing novel traits into crops that may lead towards the goal of sustainable agriculture
