| Abstract Detail
Salinity Pasapula, Vijaya [1], Kuppu, Sundaram [1], Shen, Guoxin [1], Gaxiola, Roberto [2], Zhang, Hong [1]. Expression of an Arabidopsis vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase gene (AVP1) in cotton to increase tolerance to drought and salt stresses. The Arabidopsis gene AVP1 encodes a vacuolar pyrophosphatase that functions as a proton pump on vacuolar membrane. Overexpression of AVP1 could increase proton electrochemical gradient in vacuole, thereby activating vacuolar membrane-antiporters including Na+/H+ antiporter, which helps in sequestration of Na+ into the vacuole. In addition, overexpression of AVP1 increases auxin transport and enhances auxin mediated root development, consequently achieving higher water absorption and retention capacities. Heterologous expression of AVP1 in tobacco plants significantly improved tobacco’s tolerance to drought and salt stresses. We have generated AVP1-expressing cotton plants and tested their performance under high salt and water deficit conditions. Under 200 mM NaCl, AVP1-expressing cotton plants performed better than wild type plants and the increased salt tolerance is positively correlated with the AVP1 transcript. Under periodic drought stress treatment, AVP1-expressing plants are significantly more tolerant than wild type plants. Furthermore, our small scale greenhouse experiments showed that AVP1-expressing plants produced bigger bolls than wild type cotton produced under drought conditions, which suggests a great potential of this approach in increasing cotton fiber’s yield in the semi-arid land of America’s Southwest. Most recent data on the performance of the AVP1-expressing cotton plants under high salt and water deficit conditions will be presented at the meeting.
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1 - Texas Tech University, Biological Sciences, MS 3131, Lubbock, Texas, 79409, USA
2 - University of Connecticut, Plant Science
Keywords:
AVP1
salinity
Drought
Cotton.
Presentation Type: Plant Biology Abstract
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P07004
Abstract ID:268 |
