Poster: Water relations

Abs # 152: Overexpression of the Arabidopsis 14-3-3 protein GF14λ in cotton leads to ¡°stay-green¡± phenotype and improves drought tolerance

Presenter:	He, Cixin , cixin.he@ttu.edu
Authors	He, Cixin  (A)   Yan, Juqiang  (A)   Wang, Jing  (A)   Mao, Zhehui  (A)   Holaday, Scott  (A)   Zhang, Hong  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): Texas Tech University, Department of Biological Sciences

The Arabidopsis gene GF14λ that encodes a 14-3-3 protein was expressed in transgenic cotton plants. Lines with high levels of GF14λ expression demonstrated ¡°stay-green¡± and late-flowering phenotypes and improved drought tolerance. These lines wilted less and maintained higher photosynthesis than segregated non-transgenic control plants under water-deficit conditions. Stomatal conductance appears to be the major factor for the observed higher photosynthetic rates under water-deficit conditions. The guard cell aperture of transgenic plants might be regulated by GF14λ through some transport proteins such as H⁺-ATPase whose activities are controlled by their interaction with 14-3-3 proteins. However, since 14-3-3 proteins interact with numerous proteins in plant cells, many cellular metabolisms could be affected by the GF14λ-overexpression. Whatever the mechanisms, the traits observed in the GF14λ-expressing cotton plants are beneficial to crops under certain water-deficit conditions.