Abstract
Protecting crop yield under drought stress is a major challenge for modern agriculture. One biotechnological target for improving plant drought tolerance is the genetic manipulation of the stress response to the hormone abscisic acid (ABA). Previous genetic studies have implicated the involvement of the beta-subunit of Arabidopsis farnesyltransferase (ERA1) in the regulation of ABA sensing and drought tolerance. Here we show that molecular manipulation of protein farnesylation in Arabidopsis, through downregulation of either the alpha- or beta-subunit of farnesyltransferase enhances the plant's response to ABA and drought tolerance. To test the effectiveness of tailoring farnesylation in a crop plant, transgenic Brassica napus carrying an ERA1 antisense construct driven by a drought-inducible rd29A promoter was examined. In comparison with the non-transgenic control, transgenic canola showed enhanced ABA sensitivity, as well as significant reduction in stomatal conductance and water transpiration under drought stress conditions. The antisense downregulation of canola farnesyltransferase for drought tolerance is a conditional and reversible process, which depends on the amount of available water in the soil. Furthermore, transgenic plants were more resistant to water deficit-induced seed abortion during flowering. Results from three consecutive years of field trial studies suggest that with adequate water, transgenic canola plants produced the same amount of seed as the parental control. However, under moderate drought stress conditions at flowering, the seed yields of transgenic canola were significantly higher than the control. Using protein farnesyltransferase as an effective target, these results represent a successful demonstration of engineered drought tolerance and yield protection in a crop plant under laboratory and field conditions.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Downregulating either subunit of farnesyltransferase in Arabidopsis enhances ABA response and drought tolerance.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis
Arabidopsise0 - Treatment
- downregulation of either the alpha- or beta-subunit of farnesyltransferasee0
- Gene
- farnesyltransferasee0
- Outcome
- drought tolerancee1
- Direction
- enhancese1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“molecular manipulation of protein farnesylation in Arabidopsis, through downregulation of either the alpha- or beta-subunit of farnesyltransferase”
e1“enhances the plant's response to ABA and drought tolerance”
Claim · model-written summary
Transgenic canola with an ERA1 antisense construct showed enhanced ABA sensitivity compared with the non-transgenic control.
- Taxon
- canola
.jpg?width=60)
Brassica napus var. napuse1 - Treatment
- ERA1 antisense constructe2
- Outcome
- ABA sensitivitye1
- Direction
- enhancede1
- Comparator
- non-transgenic controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“In comparison with the non-transgenic control”
e1“transgenic canola showed enhanced ABA sensitivity, as well as significant reduction in stomatal conductance and water transpiration under drought stress conditions”
e2“transgenic Brassica napus carrying an ERA1 antisense construct driven by a drought-inducible rd29A promoter”
Claim · model-written summary
Under drought stress, transgenic canola showed a significant reduction in stomatal conductance and water transpiration compared with the non-transgenic control.
- Taxon
- canolaBrassica napus var. napuse1
- Treatment
- drought stress conditionse1
- Outcome
- stomatal conductance and water transpiratione1
- Direction
- significant reductione1
- Comparator
- non-transgenic controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In comparison with the non-transgenic control”
e1“transgenic canola showed enhanced ABA sensitivity, as well as significant reduction in stomatal conductance and water transpiration under drought stress conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
The antisense downregulation effect on canola drought tolerance is conditional and reversible, depending on the amount of available soil water.
- Taxon
- canolaBrassica napus var. napuse0
- Treatment
- available water in the soile0
- Outcome
- drought tolerancee0
- Qualifier
- conditional and reversiblee0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The antisense downregulation of canola farnesyltransferase for drought tolerance is a conditional and reversible process, which depends on the amount of available water in the soil”
Claim · model-written summary
Transgenic Brassica napus was more resistant to water deficit-induced seed abortion during flowering.
- Taxon
- Brassica napus
_Brassica_napus_-_Habit.jpg?width=60)
Brassica napuse0 - Treatment
- water deficite1
- Outcome
- seed abortione1
- Direction
- more resistante1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_Brassica_napus_-_Habit.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“transgenic Brassica napus carrying an ERA1 antisense construct driven by a drought-inducible rd29A promoter”
e1“transgenic plants were more resistant to water deficit-induced seed abortion during flowering”
Claim · model-written summary
With adequate water, transgenic canola produced the same amount of seed as the parental control in three years of field trials.
- Taxon
- canolaBrassica napus var. napuse0
- Treatment
- adequate watere0
- Outcome
- amount of seede0
- Direction
- the same amounte0
- Comparator
- parental controle0
- Setting
- field triale1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“with adequate water, transgenic canola plants produced the same amount of seed as the parental control”
e1“Results from three consecutive years of field trial studies”
Claim · model-written summary
Under moderate drought at flowering, transgenic canola seed yields were significantly higher than the control.
- Taxon
- canolaBrassica napus var. napuse0
- Treatment
- moderate drought stress conditions at floweringe1
- Outcome
- seed yieldse0
- Direction
- significantly highere0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the seed yields of transgenic canola were significantly higher than the control”
e1“under moderate drought stress conditions at flowering”
The same questions in other papers
loss of function · tolerance: abiotic · ArabidopsisPositive and negative results
21 papers in the same direction as this paper · 18 in the opposite direction
- negative
- negative
- negative
36 papers more in this group
See all 40 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.