title: Expression of Arabidopsis Bax Inhibitor-1 in transgenic sugarcane confers drought tolerance.
abstract: The sustainability of global crop production is critically dependent on improving tolerance of crop plants to various types of environmental stress. Thus, identification of genes that confer stress tolerance in crops has become a top priority especially in view of expected changes in global climatic patterns. Drought stress is one of the abiotic stresses that can result in dramatic loss of crop productivity. In this work, we show that transgenic expression of a highly conserved cell death suppressor, Bax Inhibitor-1 from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtBI-1), can confer increased tolerance of sugarcane plants to long-term (>20 days) water stress conditions. This robust trait is correlated with an increased tolerance of the transgenic sugarcane plants, especially in the roots, to induction of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress by the protein glycosylation inhibitor tunicamycin. Our findings suggest that suppression of ER stress in C4 grasses, which include important crops such as sorghum and maize, can be an effective means of conferring improved tolerance to long-term water deficit. This result could potentially lead to improved resilience and yield of major crops in the world.
authors.affiliation: Depto. Ciências Biológicas, ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel Alves
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Ramiro
authors.affiliation: Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira, Bairro Santo Antonio, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Danila Montewka
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Melotto-Passarin
authors.affiliation: Depto. Ciências Biológicas, ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mariana de Almeida
authors.initials: Mde A
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Depto. Ciências Biológicas, ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Flavio Dos
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Depto. de Fitopatologia e Nematologia, ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sergio Gregorio Perez
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.affiliation: Depto. de Fitopatologia e Nematologia, ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nelson Sidnei
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Massola Júnior
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Depto. Ciências Biológicas, ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helaine
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carrer
mesh_terms: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001709:Biotechnology; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D031786:Saccharum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C491862:ATBI-1 protein, Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins
keywords: ER stress; PCD; Saccharum officinarum; antioxidant enzymes; photosynthesis; tunicamycin