Biotech Updates

Vietnamese Researchers Report Heat Tolerant Plant Transformation

September 12, 2018

Heat stress is one of the major factors causing the reduction of seed yield and production. The pollen development and flowering stages were the most sensitive to heat stress that inhibits the pollen germination. AtHSP101 gene encodes the Chaperon protein B1 (ClpB1) which belongs to the heat shock protein 100 (HSP100) family required for accumulation for abiotic stress such as drought.

Microary database showed that AtHSP101 preferred expression in reproductive organs such as pollen grain and seed. In order to develop heat tolerant plant through gene transformation approach the researchers cloned AtHSP101 gene from Arabidopsis thaliana and created the expression vector for plant transformation. The AtHSP101 gene was amplified from its cDNA with 2.736 kb and introduced into a cloning vector pBluescript. Results of cloning were confirmed by sequencing and digestion with AscI and speI enzymes. Finally, AtHSP101 was transferred to an expression vector pER8 under the control of UBQ14 promoter that can be used for generating heat tolerant plants by transformation approach in Vietnam.

For more information, read the article in Vietnamese in Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development