IWPMB XVI: Conference Poster

International Workshop on Plant Membrane Biology XVI, Kurashiki, Japan.
26^th – 31^st March 2013

S11-P29: Cell-type specific expression of multiple salt tolerance genes to improve plant salinity tolerance
Gordon Wellman, Stuart J. Roy, Andrew Jacobs

Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, The University of Adelaide
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide

Salinisation of agricultural land is of growing concern world-wide, as excessive soil salinity has a detrimental effect on growth and yield of many plant species of agricultural importance. In many cereals, the accumulation of sodium ions (Na⁺) in the shoot has a negative effect on shoot growth and therefore yield. In recent years many genes involved in Na⁺ transport have been identified from different plant species. Genetic modification utilising these genes has been used to manipulate Na⁺ transport with the aim of reducing Na⁺ accumulation in the shoot. Both constitutive and tissues-specific overexpression of such genes in transgenic plants has proved beneficial in reducing Na⁺ shoot accumulation. However, further reductions would be possible by fine tuning Na⁺ transport processes throughout the plant through co-expressing multiple salinity tolerance genes in specific cell-types. In this study we have developed dual enhancer trap lines in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana allowing the expression of two different reporter genes in different root cell types. These lines are being used to drive cell-specific expression of multiple genes involved in Na⁺ transport in different combinations to allow more accurate manipulation of Na⁺ transport throughout plants. Successful gene combinations that reduce total shoot Na⁺ would then be used in agriculturally important crop species such as wheat, barley and rice. As a proof of concept, transgenic barley lines expressing individual Na⁺ transporters under the control of cell-specific promoters have been combined through traditional crossing techniques. Current progress towards these goals will be presented.