Overexpression of the ERECTA from Arabidopsis Improves Thermotolerance in Transgenic Rice and Tomato

The detrimental effects of global warming on crop productivity threaten the world's food supply. Although plant responses to temperature changes have been studied, genetic modification of crops to improve thermotolerance has had little success. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently studied the Arabidopsis thaliana receptor-like kinase ERECTA (ER) and its role in thermotolerance.

Overexpression of ER in Arabidopsis, rice, and tomato conferred thermotolerance independent of water loss. Arabidopsis er mutants were also found to be hypersensitive to heat. Meanwhile, a loss-of-function mutation of a rice ER homolog and the reduced expression of a tomato ER allele also decreased thermotolerance for both species.

Transgenic tomato and rice lines overexpressing the Arabidopsis ER showed improved heat tolerance in the greenhouse and in field tests. Moreover, ER-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis, tomato and rice plants also had increased biomass. These findings could contribute to breeding thermotolerant crops with no growth penalty.

For more information, read the article on Nature Biotechnology.