Biotech Updates

Overexpression of SAMDC Gene Can Be Key to Developing Cold Tolerant Maize

July 27, 2022

The study on the S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC) gene in maize has not been reported yet. Now, scientists from Jilin Agricultural University in China found substantial evidence that its overexpression can lead to effectively improve the cold tolerance of the crop.

Previous studies have found the SAMDC gene to be effective in improving the performances of tobacco, cotton, and herbaceous plants. To find out if it will also work in maize, the Chinese scientists cultivated cold tolerant maize lines using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation to localize the SAMDC gene into the nucleus and produce the inbred line GSH9001. The transgenic maize underwent single-field experiments in three biological repeats for three years.

It was recorded that the contents of the polyamines, proline, malondialdehyde, antioxidant enzymes, and ascorbate peroxidases in the leaves significantly increased in the transgenic maize line with the overexpressed SAMDC gene. The CBF and cold-responsive gene were also found to have effectively increased. The transgenic maize had significantly improved yield traits without having any changes in plant height, ear length, and shaft thickness. The scientists concluded that engineering the SAMDC gene in maize can be an effective strategy to improve its tolerance against cold temperatures.

Learn more about it in GM Crops & Food.


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