Abstract
Crop plants are adversely affected by abiotic stresses. Drought is the most widespread and damaging of all environmental stresses. At the global level, significant proportion of cultivable land masses is affected by high salt levels. Heat and cold stresses profoundly affect agricultural yields of major crops. Also, the level of abiotic stresses is on the rise due to both natural and man-made interventions. The ambient temperature is gradually increasing due to the increased levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The episodes of drought and flooding stress have become more erratic over the years. The production of transgenic crops that can withstand increased level of abiotic stresses is a silver lining to sustain and increase food production in future. Techniques of producing transgenic crops need to be improvised to achieve high frequency transformation. Current experiments deploying nanotechnology tools for gene delivery are extremely relevant in production of new generation of transgenic plants. With such tools, it would be possible to experimentally produce higher number of transgenic lines and screen out the transgenic lines showing desired phenotype in higher numbers. In the ensuing paragraphs, we delve on the current status of abiotic stress tolerant transgenic crops and also project how nanotechnology tools can help in future endeavors.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anami S, Njuguna E, Coussens G et al (2013) Higher plant transformation: principles and molecular tools. Int J Dev Biol 57:483–494. doi:10.1387/ijdb.130232mv
Asano T, Hakata M, Nakamura H et al (2011) Functional characterisation of OsCPK21, a calcium-dependant protein kinase that confers salt tolerance in rice. Plant Mol Biol 75:179–191. doi:10.1007/s11103-010-9717-1
Asano T, Hayashi N, Kobayashi M et al (2012) A rice calcium-dependant protein kinase OsCPK12 oppositely modulates salt-stress tolerance and blast disease resistance. Plant J 69:26–36. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2011.04766.x
Awizar DA, Othman NK, Jalar A et al (2013) Nanosilicate extraction from rice husk ash as green corrosion inhibitor. Int J Electrochem Sci 8:1759–1769
Campo S, Baldrich P, Messeguer J et al (2014) Overexpression of a calcium-dependant protein kinase confers salt and drought tolerance in rice by preventing membrane lipid peroxidation. Plant Physiol 165:688–704. doi:10.1104/pp.113.230268
Capell T, Bassie L, Christou P et al (2004) Modulation of the polyamine biosynthetic pathway in transgenic rice confers tolerance to drought stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:9909–9914. doi:10.1073/pnas.0306974101
Chen H, Lin Y (2013) Promise and issues of genetically modified crops. Curr Opin Plant Biol 16:255–260. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2013.03.007
Chen H, Chen W, Zhou J et al (2012) Basic leucine zipper transcription factor OsbZIP16 positively regulates drought resistance in rice. Plant Sci 193:8–17. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2012.05.003
Chen LJ, Wuriyanghan H, Zhang YQ et al (2013) An S-domain receptor-like kinase, OsSIK2, confers abiotic stress tolerance and delays dark-induced leaf senescence in rice. Plant Physiol 163:1752–1765. doi:10.1104/pp.113.224881
Choe YH, Kim YS, Kim IS et al (2013) Homologous expression of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase increases grain yield and tolerance of transgenic rice plants to environmental stresses. J Plant Physiol 170:610–618. doi:10.1016/j.jplph.2012.12.002
Cui M, Zhang W, Zhang Q et al (2011) Induced over-expression of the transcription factor OsDREB2A improves drought tolerance in rice. Plant Physiol Biochem 49:1384–1391. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2011.09.012
Datta SK, Datta K, Soltanifar N et al (1992) Herbicide-resistant Indica rice plants from IRRI breeding line IR72 after PEG-mediated transformation of protoplasts. Plant Mol Biol 20:619–629
Diédhou CJ, Popova OV, Dietz KJ et al (2008) The SNFI-type serine-threonine protein kinase SAPK4 regulates stress-responsive gene expression in rice. BMC Plant Biol 8:1–13. doi:10.1186/1471-2229/8/49
Du H, Liu L, You L et al (2011) Characterization of an inositol 1,3,4-triphosphate 5/6-kinase gene that is essential for drought and salt stress response in rice. Plant Mol Biol 77:547–563. doi:10.1007/s11103-011-9830-9
Duan J, Zhang M, Zhang H et al (2012) OsMIOX, a myo-inositol oxygenase gene, improves drought tolerance through scavenging of reactive oxygen species in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Plant Sci 196:143–151. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2012.08.003
Duman JG, Wisniewski MJ (2014) The use of antifreeze proteins for frost protection in sensitive crop plants. Environ Exp Bot 106:60–69. doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2014.01.001
Ekanayake IJ, De Datta SK, Steponkus (1989) Spikelet sterility and flowering response of rice to water stress at anthesis. Ann Bot 63:257–264
El-Soda M, Malosetti M, Zwaan BJ et al (2014) Genotype X environment interaction QTL mapping in plants: lessons from Arabidopsis. Trends Plant Sci 19:390–398. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2014.01.001
Fukuda A, Nakamura A, Tagiri A et al (2004) Function, intracellular localization and the importance in salt tolerance of a vascular Na+/H+ antiporter from rice. Plant Cell Physiol 45:146–159
Galun E, Breiman A (1997) Tools for genetic transformation. In: Selectable genes, transgenic plants. Imperial College Press, London, pp 62–64
Garg AK, Kim JK, Owens TG et al (2002) Trehalose accumulation in rice plants confers high tolerance levels to different abiotic stresses. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:15898–15903. doi:10.1073/pnas.252637799
Grover A, Sahi C, Sanan N et al (1999) Taming abiotic stresses in plants through genetic engineering: current strategies and perspective. Plant Sci 143:101–111
Grover A, Kapoor A, Lakshmi OS et al (2001) Understanding molecular alphabets of the plant abiotic stress responses. Curr Sci 80:206–216
Grover A, Aggarwal PK, Kapoor A et al (2003) Addressing abiotic stresses in agriculture through transgenic technology. Curr Sci 84:355–368
Grover A, Mittal D, Negi M et al (2013) Generating high temperature tolerant transgenic plants: achievements and challenges. Plant Sci 205–206:38–47
Huang J, Sun S, Xu D et al (2012) A TFIIIA-type zinc finger protein confers multiple abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.). Plant Mol Biol 80:337–350. doi:10.1007/s11103-012-9955-5
Ibrahim RA, Shawer DM (2014) Transgenic Bt-plants and the future of crop protection. Int J Agri Food Res 3:14–40
Jang IC, Oh SJ, Seo JS et al (2003) Expression of a biofunctional fusion of the Escherichia coli genes for trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase in transgenic rice plants increases trehalose accumulation and abiotic stress tolerance without stunting growth. Plant Physiol 131:516–524. doi:10.1104/pp.007237
Jenks MA, Hasegawa PM, Jain SM (eds) (2007) Advances in molecular breeding toward drought and salt tolerant crops. Springer, Dordrecht
Jeong JS, Kim YS, Baek KH et al (2010) Root-specific expression of OsNAC10 improves drought tolerance and grain yield in rice under field drought conditions. Plant Physiol 153:185–197. doi:10.1104/pp.110.154773
Ji Q, Xu X, Wang K (2013) Genetic transformation of major cereal crops. Int J Dev Biol 57:495–508. doi:10.1387/ijdb.130244kw
Kallarackal J, Millburn JA, Baker DA (1990) Water relations of the banana. III. effects of controlled water stress on water potential, transpiration, photosynthesis and leaf growth. Aust J Plant Pathol 17:79–90. doi:10.1071/PP9900079
Kathuria H, Giri J, Nataraja KN et al (2009) Glycinebetaine-induced water-stress tolerance in codA-expressing transgenic indica rice is associated with up-regulation of several stress responsive genes. Plant Biotechnol J 7:512–526. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7652.2009.00420.x
Kaya C, Ashraf M, Dikilitas M et al (2013) Alleviation of salt stress-induced adverse effects on maize plants by exogenous application of indoleacetic acid (IAA) and inorganic nutrients-A field trial. Aust J Crop Sci 7:249–254
Lang SS (2013) Waste fiber can be recycled into valuable products using new technique of electrospinning, Cornell researchers report. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2003/09/electrospinning-cellulose-waste-fiber. Accessed 26 Sept 2014
Li HW, Zang BS, Deng XW et al (2011) Overexpression of the trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene OsTPS1 enhances abiotic stress tolerance in rice. Planta 234:1007–1018. doi:10.1007/s00425-011-1458-0
Mohanty A, Kathuria H, Ferjani A et al (2002) Transgenics of an elite indica rice variety Pusa Basmati 1 harbouring the codA gene are highly tolerant to salt stress. Theor Appl Genet 106:51–57. doi:10.1007/s00122-002-1063-5
Nagamiya K, Motohashi T, Nakao K et al (2007) Enhancement of salt tolerance in transgenic rice expressing an Escherichia coli catalase gene, katE. Plant Biotechnol Rep 1:49–55. doi:10.1007/s11816-007-0007-6
Nair R, Varghese SH, Nair BG (2010) Nanoparticulate material delivery to plants. Plant Sci 179:154–163. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2010.04.012
Ning J, Li X, Hicks LM et al (2010) A Raf-like MAPKKK gene DSM1 mediates drought resistance through reactive oxygen species scavenging in rice. Plant Physiol 152:876–890. doi:10.1104/pp.109.149856
Obata T, Kitamoto HK, Nakamura A et al (2007) Rice shaker potassium channel OsKAT1 confers tolerance to salinity stress on yeast and rice cells. Plant Physiol 144:1978–1985. doi:10.1104/pp.107.101154
Ohta M, Hayashi Y, Nakashima A et al (2002) Introduction of a Na+/H+ antiporter gene from Atriplex gmelini confers salt tolerance to rice. FEBS Lett 532:279–282
Ouyang SQ, Liu YF, Liu P et al (2010) Receptor-like OsSIK1 improves drought and salt stress tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa) plants. Plant J 62:316–329. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2010.04146.x
Perferoen M (1997) Progress and prospects for field use of Bt genes in crops. TIBTECH 15:173–177
Prashanth SR, Sadhasivam V, Parida A (2008) Over expression of cytosolic copper/zinc superoxide dismutase from a mangrove plant Avicennia marina in indica rice var Pusa Basmati-1 confers abiotic stress tolerance. Transgenic Res 17:281–291
Ravikumar G, Manimaran P, Voleti SR et al (2014) Stress-inducible expression of AtDREB1A transcription factor greatly improves drought stress tolerance in transgenic indica rice. Transgenic Res 23:421–439
Redillas MCFR, Jin JS, Kim YS et al (2012) The overexpression of OsNAC9 alters the root architecture of rice plants enhancing drought resistance and grain yield under field conditions. Plant Biotechnol J 10:792–805
Roy M, Wu R (2002) Overexpression of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase gene in rice increases polyamine level and enhances sodium chloride-stress tolerance. Plant Sci 163:987–992
Sahi C, Singh A, Blumwald E et al (2006) Beyond osmolytes and transporters: novel plant salt-stress tolerance-related genes from transcriptional profiling data. Physiol Plant 127:1–9
Sekhon BS (2014) Nanotechnology in agri-food production: an overview. Nanotechnol Sci Appl 7:31–53. doi:10.2147/NSA.S39406
Simpson RB, Spielmann A, Margosian L et al (1986) A disarmed binary vector from Agrobacterium tumefaciens functions in Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Plant Mol Biol 6:403–415
Singh A, Grover A (2008) Genetic engineering for heat tolerance in plants. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 14:155–166
Singla-Pareek SL, Yadav SK, Pareek A et al (2008) Enhancing salt tolerance in a crop plant by overexpression of glyoxalase II. Transgenic Res 17:171–180. doi:10.1007/s11248-007-9082-2
Su J, Wu R (2004) Stress-inducible synthesis of proline in transgenic rice confers faster growth under stress conditions than that with constitutive synthesis. Plant Sci 166:941–948. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2003.12.004
Su J, Hirji R, Zhang L et al (2006) Evaluation of the stress-inducible production of choline oxidase in transgenic rice as a strategy for producing the stress-protectant glycine betaine. J Exp Bot 57:1129–1135. doi:10.1093/jxb/erj133
Sultana S, Khew CY, Morshed MM et al (2012) Overexpression of monodehydroascorbate reductase from a mangrove plant (AeMDHAR) confers salt tolerance on rice. J Plant Physiol 169:311–318. doi:10.1016/j.jplph.2011.09.004
Tang N, Zhang H, Li X et al (2012) Constitutive activation of transcription factor OsZIP46 improves drought tolerance in rice. Plant Physiol 158:1755–1768. doi:10.1104/pp.111.190389
Tao Z, Kou Y, Liu H et al (2011) OsWRKY45 alleles play different roles in abscisic acid signalling and salt tolerance but similar roles in drought and cold tolerance in rice. J Exp Bot 62:4863–4873. doi:10.1093/jxb/err144
Torney F, Trewyn BG, Lin VSY et al (2007) Mesoporous silica nanoparticles deliver DNA and chemicals into plants. Nat Nanotechnol 2:295–300. doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.108
Tzfira T, Citovisky V (2006) Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of plants: biology and biotechnology. Curr Opin Biotechnol 17:147–154. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2006.01.009
Verma D, Singla-Pareek SL, Rajagopal D et al (2007) Functional validation of a novel isoform of Na+/H+ antiporter from Pennisetum glaucum for enhancing salinity tolerance in rice. J Biosci 32:621–628
Wei S, Hu W, Deng X et al (2014) A rice calcium-dependant protein kinase OsCPK9 positively regulates drought stress tolerance and spikelet fertility. BMC Plant Biol 14:1–13. doi:10.1186/1471-2229-14-133
Wu L, Fan Z, Guo L et al (2005) Over-expression of the bacterial nhaA gene in rice enhances salt and drought tolerance. Plant Sci 168:297–302. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2004.05.033
Xu M, Li L, Fan Y et al (2011) ZmCBF3 overexpression improves tolerance to abiotic stress in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa) without yield penalty. Plant Cell Rep 30:1949–1957. doi:10.1007/s0029-011-1103-1
Yang T, Zhang S, Hu Y et al (2014) The role of OsHAKS5 in potassium acquisition and transport from roots to shoots in rice at low potassium supply levels. Plant Physiol. doi:10.1104/pp.246520
Yoshida S (1981) Fundamentals of rice crop science. International Rice Research Institute, Philippines
Yu L, Chen X, Wang Z et al (2013) Arabidopsis Enhanced Drought Tolernace1/HOMEODOMAIN GLABROUS11 confers drought tolerance in transgenic rice without yield penalty. Plant Physiol 162:1378–1391. doi:10.1104/pp.113.217576
Zhang Z, Li F, Li D et al (2010) Functional analyses of ethylene response factor JERF3 with the amin of improving tolerance to drought and osmotic stress in transgenic rice. Transgenic Res 19:809–818. doi:10.1007/s11248-009-9357-x
Zhao F, Guo S, Zhang H et al (2006) Expression of yeast SOD2 in transgenic rice results in increased salt tolerance. Plant Sci 170:216–224. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2005.08.017
Zhao FY, Liu W, Zhang SH (2009) Different responses of plant growth and antioxidant system to the combination of cadmium and heat stress in the transgenic and non-transgenic rice. J Integr Plant Biol 51:942–950. doi:10.1111/j.1744.2009.00865.x
Zhu C, Naqvi S, Gomez-Galera et al (2007) Transgenic strategies for the nutritional enhancement of plants. TRENDS Plant Sci 12:548-555. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2007.09.007
Acknowledgments
DL is thankful to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India and University Teaching Assistant fellowship, University of Delhi for the research fellowship award. MHS and MHA-W thank project funding from National Plan for Science and Technology Program, Saudi Arabia. AG gratefully acknowledges Visiting Professorship of King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lavania, D., Singh, A.K., Siddiqui, M.H., Al-Whaibi, M.H., Grover, A. (2015). Abiotic Stress Tolerant Transgenic Plants and Nanotechnology. In: Siddiqui, M., Al-Whaibi, M., Mohammad, F. (eds) Nanotechnology and Plant Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14502-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14502-0_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14501-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14502-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)