title: An efficient and reproducible protocol for the production of salt tolerant transgenic wheat plants expressing the Arabidopsis AtNHX1 gene.
abstract: We present an efficient method for the production of transgenic salt tolerant hexaploid wheat plants expressing the Arabidopsis AtNHX1 gene. Wheat mature zygotic embryos were isolated from two hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivars (namely: Gemmeiza 9 and Gemmeiza 10) and were transformed with the A. tumefaciens LBA4404 harboring the pBI-121 vector containing the AtNHX1 gene. Transgenic wheat lines that express the gus intron was obtained and used as control. The results confirmed that npt-II gene could be transmitted and expressed in the T2 following 3:1 Mendelian segregation while the control plant couldn't. The data indicate that, the AtNHX1 gene was integrated in a stable manner into the wheat genome and the corresponding transcripts were expressed. The transformation efficiency was 5.7 and 7.5% for cultivars Gemmeiza 10 and Gemmeiza 9, respectively. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of AtNHX1 gene in wheat salt tolerance. The transgenic wheat lines could maintain high growth rate under salt stress condition (350 mM NaCl) while the control plant couldn't. The results confirmed that Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene AtNHX1 increased salt tolerance by increasing Na(+) accumulation and keeping K+/Na(+) balance. Thus, transgenic plants showed high tolerance to salt stress and can be considered as a new genetic resource in breeding programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Genetic Engineering Research Center (GERC); Faculty of Agriculture Cairo University; Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Reda E A
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Moghaieb
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Genetic Engineering Research Center (GERC); Faculty of Agriculture Cairo University; Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Sharaf
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Genetic Engineering Research Center (GERC); Faculty of Agriculture Cairo University; Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Soliman
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Genetic Engineering Research Center (GERC); Faculty of Agriculture Cairo University; Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Nagwa I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: El-Arabi
authors.affiliation: Agriculture Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI); Agriculture Research Center (ARC); Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Osama A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Momtaz
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D018745:Genome, Plant; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D055051:Salt-Tolerant Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D017923:Sodium-Hydrogen Exchangers / Q000235:genetics*; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; C117751:NHX1 protein, Arabidopsis; D017923:Sodium-Hydrogen Exchangers
keywords: Agrobacterium; AtNHX1gene expression; Wheat plants; salt tolerance; transformation