Overexpression of ubiquitin‐like LpHUB1 gene confers drought tolerance in perennial ryegrass

Abstract

SummaryHUB1, also known as Ubl5, is a member of the subfamily of ubiquitin-like post-translational modifiers. HUB1 exerts its role by conjugating with protein targets. The function of this protein has not been studied in plants. A HUB1 gene, LpHUB1, was identified from serial analysis of gene expression data and cloned from perennial ryegrass. The expression of this gene was reported previously to be elevated in pastures during the summer and by drought stress in climatecontrolled growth chambers. Here, pasture-type and turf-type transgenic perennial ryegrass plants overexpressing LpHUB1 showed improved drought tolerance, as evidenced by improved turf quality, maintenance of turgor and increased growth. Additional analyses revealed that the transgenic plants generally displayed higher relative water content, leaf water potential, and chlorophyll content and increased photosynthetic rate when subjected to drought stress. These results suggest HUB1 may play an important role in the tolerance of perennial ryegrass to abiotic stresses.

Modulating AtDREB1C Expression Improves Drought Tolerance in Salvia miltiorrhiza

“…This variability, combined with other location-specific environmental stressors, such as high light and temperature, hamper efforts aimed at producing drought-tolerant plants through conventional breeding (Fang and Xiong, 2015; Thomas, 2015). Compared to traditional breeding and marker-assisted selection, directly introducing stress tolerance-related genes via genetic engineering represents a more effective, rapid approach for increasing abiotic stress tolerance in plants (Patel et al, 2015; Todaka et al, 2015). One important strategy for genetic engineering is to induce a TF gene that regulates several genes involved in abiotic stress (Rehman and Mahmood, 2015).…”

“…Plant genetic engineering provides an important approach for improving drought resistance in crops via the introduction of transgene(s) to mitigate physiological and agronomic penalties associated with drought (Bihmidine et al, 2013; Patel et al, 2015; Mendiondo et al, 2016). One strategy for increasing drought tolerance is to genetically engineer plants with transcription factors (TF) that control the expression of several abiotic stress response genes (Cabello et al, 2014; de Paiva Rolla et al, 2014; Rehman and Mahmood, 2015).…”

Prospects for applications of genomic tools in registration testing and seed certification of ryegrass varieties

“…, Patel et al. ). However, none of the relevant markers have been reported as a reliable predictor of any phenotypic trait and as such are unlikely to be of value in predicting performance of a cultivar or distinguishing cultivars.…”

“…A number of genes for specific phenotypic traits have been isolated and characterized, including those controlling stress tolerance and time of flowering (vernalization and photoperiod response) (Jensen et al 2001, Armstead et al 2002, Martin et al 2004, Jensen et al 2005, Andersen et al 2006, Petersen et al 2006, Xiong and Fei 2006, Ciannamea et al 2006a,b, 2007, Han and Suleiman 2008, Sandve et al 2008, Zhang et al 2010, Fiil et al 2011, Cao et al 2015, Patel et al 2015. However, none of the relevant markers have been reported as a reliable predictor of any phenotypic trait and as such are unlikely to be of value in predicting performance of a cultivar or distinguishing cultivars.…”

Phenotypic and Genotypic Diversity for Drought Tolerance among and within Perennial Ryegrass Accessions

“…Phenotypic evaluation of drought response and exploration of physiological and molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance have been studied in perennial ryegrass (Huang et al, 2014;Jiang and Huang, 2001;Jiang et al, 2009;Liu and Jiang, 2010;Patel et al, 2014;Turner et al, 2012) and in turftype interspecific hybrids of meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) with perennial ryegrass (Barnes et al, 2014). Most previous reports on drought tolerance used either seedlings from the mixed individuals (seeds) for a particular cultivar (Jiang et al, 2009;Turner et al, 2012) or seedlings from single seeds of different accessions (Liu and Jiang, 2010;Yu et al, 2013).…”