Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana AtNCED3 gene expressed in transgenic rice

Abstract

Nine cis epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is a key enzyme to synthesize abscisic acid (ABA), catalyzung the clravage reaction of epoxycarotenoids to produce xanthoxin. Seven NCED genes were found in Arabidopsis thaliana. One of them, AtNCED3 was strongly induced by drought stress and overexpression of AtNCED3 in transgenic Arabidopsis improved stress tolelance to dehydration. We generated transgenic rice overexpressing the AtNCED3 gene. The maize ubiquitine promoter was used to overexperss AtNCED3. We analyzed expression of AtNCED3 using northern bolt analysis and found its overexpression in 13 transgenic rice lines. These transgenic rice revealed dehydration tolerance causing the accumulation of endogenous ABA.