Abstract
9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is a key enzyme for biosynthesis of abscisic acid (ABA), catalyzing the cleavage reaction of epoxycarotenoids to produce xanthoxin. Seven NCED genes were found in Arabidopsis genome. One of them, AtNCED3 was strongly induced by drought stress. We generated transgenic rice overexpressing the AtNCED3 gene, and showed that the transgenic rice revealed dehydration tolerance.
To investigate the function of NCED in rice, we searched the rice genome sequence. Three NCEDs with similar structure to Vp14, were found on the genome and were intron less. We cloned them using PCR from the rice genomic DNA or cDNAs. Northern blot analysis showed that two of them were induced by high salinity and dehydration stress. We are analyzing function of three genes using transgenic rice plant.
