Plant Biotechnology
Online ISSN : 1347-6114
Print ISSN : 1342-4580
ISSN-L : 1342-4580
Transgenic Note
Overexpression of a calcium-dependent protein kinase gene enhances growth of rice under low-nitrogen conditions
Takayuki AsanoMasataka WakayamaNaohiro AokiSetsuko KomatsuHiroaki IchikawaHirohiko HirochikaRyu Ohsugi
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2010 Volume 27 Issue 4 Pages 369-373

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Abstract

The excessive amounts of nitrogen applied in current farming systems can cause environmental problems. There is therefore a need to improve the ability of crop plants to utilize nitrogenous fertilizers. We screened for nitrogen deficiency-tolerant lines among transgenic rice plants that overexpressed full-length cDNAs (FL-cDNAs) corresponding to low-nitrogen response genes, genes related to nitrogen metabolism, and genes related to carbon metabolism. We found that overexpression of OsCPK12 FL-cDNA, encoding a calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK), conferred tolerance to low-nitrogen stress in rice. After two weeks of low-nitrogen treatment, dry weights of shoots from OsCPK12-overexpressing plants were greater than those from control plants. Furthermore, total nitrogen contents of OsCPK12-overexpressing plants were higher than those of the control plants. Our findings suggest that OsCPK12 is involved in the signal transduction pathway(s) in the low-nitrogen stress response and may be useful in engineering crop plants with improved tolerance to low nitrogen levels.

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© 2010 by Japanese Society for Plant Biotechnology
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