| dc.description.abstract | Environmental stresses, especially abiotic stressors such as drought and salinity are
main harmful agents of plant growth, development and productivity. Through
evolution, plants have developed a number of different defense mechanisms to adapt
or resist with such disadvantageous conditions. Transcription factors (TFs) have been
known to play important role in regulating plant responses against external stresses.
From previous study conducted by our group, we have identified a drought-inducible
NAC gene in soybean, GmNAC020, which was shown to have positive association
with plant drought tolerance degree. In this project, functions of GmNAC020 in plant
response to drought and salinity stress conditions were performed using GmNAC020-
overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis plants. With the obtained results, contribution
of GmNAC020 to drought tolerance in plants remains inconclusive due to lacking of
data and interference of plant aging to the analysis of survival rate. Meanwhile, the
results of salinity stress by performing bleaching and root growth assays indicated
that the transgenic line overexpressing GmNAC020 had lower bleaching rate and
lower root growth inhibition upon exposure to salt stress, suggesting a better salt
tolerance degree in the transgenic plants in comparison to the control wild-type
plants.
Keywords: Abiotic stress, Arabidopsis thaliana, NAC transcription factors, GmNAC020
transgenic plant, drought tolerance, root growth assay, salinity tolerance | en_US |
