title: Application of T-DNA activation tagging to identify glutamate receptor-like genes that enhance drought tolerance in plants.
abstract: A high-quality rice activation tagging population has been developed and screened for drought-tolerant lines using various water stress assays. One drought-tolerant line activated two rice glutamate receptor-like genes. Transgenic overexpression of the rice glutamate receptor-like genes conferred drought tolerance to rice and Arabidopsis. Rice (Oryza sativa) is a multi-billion dollar crop grown in more than one hundred countries, as well as a useful functional genetic tool for trait discovery. We have developed a population of more than 200,000 activation-tagged rice lines for use in forward genetic screens to identify genes that improve drought tolerance and other traits that improve yield and agronomic productivity. The population has an expected coverage of more than 90 % of rice genes. About 80 % of the lines have a single T-DNA insertion locus and this molecular feature simplifies gene identification. One of the lines identified in our screens, AH01486, exhibits improved drought tolerance. The AH01486 T-DNA locus is located in a region with two glutamate receptor-like genes. Constitutive overexpression of either glutamate receptor-like gene significantly enhances the drought tolerance of rice and Arabidopsis, thus revealing a novel function of this important gene family in plant biology.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Kaituo DNA Biotech Research Center, Co., Ltd., Beijing, 102206, China, guihua.lu@pioneer.com.
authors.forename: Guihua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xiping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Changgui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guokui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Guanfan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Binfeng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jianying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Mian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Junli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jingmei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shuqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Jinteng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
authors.forename: Shoba
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sivasankar
authors.forename: Marc C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Albertsen
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Mazur
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Lassner
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Broglie
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D056426:Genetic Loci; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics / Q000379:methods*; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D010641:Phenotype; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate / Q000235:genetics*; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate; C036483:T-DNA