title: Overexpression of an Arabidopsis β-glucosidase gene enhances drought resistance with dwarf phenotype in creeping bentgrass.
abstract: An Arabidopsis β-glucosidase, AtBG1 is known to hydrolyze glucose-conjugated, biologically inactive abscisic acid (ABA) to produce active ABA, which increases the level of ABA in plants. Since an increase of ABA in plants confers tolerance against abiotic stress such as drought, we introduced the pCAMBIA3301 vector harboring the AtBG1 gene into creeping bentgrass through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. After transformation, putative transgenic plants were selected using the BASTA resistance assay at a concentration of 0.8%. Genomic integration of the AtBG1 gene was confirmed by genomic PCR and Southern blot analysis, and gene expression was validated by Northern blot and Western blot analyses. Interestingly, the transgenic bentgrass plants overexpressing AtBG1 had a dwarf phenotype with reduced growth rates when compared to wild-type creeping bentgrass. In addition, the transgenic plants accumulated higher ABA levels and displayed enhanced drought tolerance. These results suggest that the expression of AtBG1 in plants induces the accumulation of higher ABA levels, which results in the formation of dwarf creeping bentgrass and enhances the survival in water-limiting environments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We used an Arabidopsis β-glucosidase AtBG1 to engineer a crop with elevated active ABA levels, and developed transgenic creeping bentgrass with enhanced drought tolerance and dwarf phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology and Kumho Life Science Laboratory, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea.
authors.forename: Yun-Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Kyu-Chang
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Ok-Jin
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Yun-Sung
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ah-Young
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Inhwan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Jeong-Il
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D031703:Agrostis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D055864:Droughts; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D053209:Herbicide Resistance; D010641:Phenotype; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D001617:beta-Glucosidase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D000040:Abscisic Acid; D001617:beta-Glucosidase