Pepper Gene Enhances Potato Stress Tolerance
July 25, 2008| |
The gaseous phytohormone ethylene exerts its effect in plant development and growth by regulating the transcription of certain plant genes. The hormone interacts with ERFs (ethylene responsive factors), a group of DNA binding proteins that modulate the expression of several stress-inducible genes. Arabidopsis ERF genes have been shown to play important roles in plant defense response. However, little is known about the functional significance of ERF genes in important crops such as wheat, maize and potato.
Scientists from the Plant Genome Research Center and Seoul National University in Korea showed that overexpression of the pepper ERF gene CaPF1 effectively enhanced tolerance to freezing, heat, heavy metal, and oxidative stress in potatoes. The team also observed that CaPF1 was involved in tuber formation. Microtuber formation was significantly retarded in lines overexpressing the transgene. The results of the study suggest that future research using various transcription factors, particularly ethylene responsive factors, to improve stress tolerance in potato may result in development of high-yielding crops.
The article published by the journal Planta is available to subscribers at http://www.springerlink.com/content/9575272704517288/fulltext.pdf. Non-subscribers can read the abstract at http://www.springerlink.com/content/9575272704517288/?p=f246c4e4caf945bf9b6afc2aff151e4e&pi=0
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