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Enhanced heat and drought tolerance in transgenic rice seedlings overexpressing OsWRKY11 under the control of HSP101 promoter

  • Genetic Transformation and Hybridization
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Abstract

An OsWRKY11 gene, which encodes a transcription factor with the WRKY domain, was identified as one of the genes that was induced by both heat shock and drought stresses in seedlings of rice (Oryza sativa L.). To determine if overexpression of OsWRKY11 confers heat and drought tolerance, OsWRKY11 cDNA was fused to the promoter of HSP101 of rice and introduced into a rice cultivar Sasanishiki. Overexpression of OsWRKY11 was induced by heat treatment. After heat pretreatment, the transgenic lines showed significant heat and drought tolerance, as indicated by the slower leaf-wilting and less-impaired survival rate of green parts of plants. They also showed significant desiccation tolerance, as indicated by the slower water loss in detached leaves. Our results indicate that the OsWRKY11 gene plays a role in heat and drought stress response and tolerance, and might be useful for improvement of stress tolerance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 1-1 Tsutumidori-Amamiyamachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 981-8555, Japan

    Xiaolan Wu, Yoko Shiroto, Yukihiro Ito & Kinya Toriyama

  2. Laboratory of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 1-1 Tsutumidori-Amamiyamachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 981-8555, Japan

    Sachie Kishitani

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  1. Xiaolan Wu
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  2. Yoko Shiroto
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  3. Sachie Kishitani
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  4. Yukihiro Ito
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  5. Kinya Toriyama
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Correspondence to Kinya Toriyama.

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Communicated by H. Ebinuma.

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Wu, X., Shiroto, Y., Kishitani, S. et al. Enhanced heat and drought tolerance in transgenic rice seedlings overexpressing OsWRKY11 under the control of HSP101 promoter. Plant Cell Rep 28, 21–30 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-008-0614-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-008-0614-x

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