title: Assessment of the salt tolerance and environmental biosafety of Eucalyptus camaldulensis harboring a mangrin transgene.
abstract: Increasing soil salinization of arable land has a major impact on the global ecosystem. One approach to increase the usable global forest area is to develop transgenic trees with higher tolerance to conditions of salt stress. An allene oxide cyclase homolog, mangrin, contains a core protein domain that enhances the salt tolerance of its host. We utilized this feature to develop improved salt-tolerant eucalyptus trees, by using transgenic Eucalyptus camaldulensis carrying the mangrin gene as a model. Since the Japanese government requires an environmental biosafety assessment for the surrounding biosphere, we performed experiments on trees grown in a special netted-house. This study examined the transgenic E. camaldulensis carrying the mangrin gene to assess the feasibility of using these transformants, and assessed their salt tolerance and environmental biosafety. We found that seven of 36 transgenic genotypes had significantly higher salt tolerance than non-transformants, and more importantly, that these plants had no significant impact on environmental biosafety. These results suggest that introduction of the mangrin gene may be one approach to safely enhance salt tolerance in genetically modified Eucalyptus species, and that the transformants have no apparent risks in terms of environmental biosafety. Thus, this study provides valuable information regarding the use of transgenic trees in situ.
authors: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, Gene Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Ten-noudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8752, Japan. yuxiang@riken.jp
authors: Xiang
authors: X
authors: Yu
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Kikuchi
authors: Takayoshi
authors: T
authors: Shimazaki
authors: Akiyo
authors: A
authors: Yamada
authors: Yoshihiro
authors: Y
authors: Ozeki
authors: Etsuko
authors: E
authors: Matsunaga
authors: Hiroyasu
authors: H
authors: Ebinuma
authors: Kazuo N
authors: KN
authors: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005052:Eucalyptus / Q000502:physiology*; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D019746:Intramolecular Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics; D007564:Japan; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D054712:Salinity; D055049:Salt Tolerance / Q000235:genetics*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000378:metabolism*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D019746:Intramolecular Oxidoreductases; C021377:hydroperoxide isomerase