Identification of the rice calcium-dependent protein kinase genes involved in abiotic stress tolerance

Abstract

In plants, calcium acts as a universal second messenger in various signal transduction pathways. The plant-specific calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), which constitute a gene family in higher plants, play important roles in regulating downstream components of calcium signaling. However, the biological functions of most CDPKs and their functional divergence/redundancy are still unclear. In this study, we attempt to isolate and characterize rice CDPK genes involved in environmental stress responses, carbon and nitrogen metabolisms by using Full-length cDNA Over-eXpressor gene (FOX) hunting system. So far, we have examined the abiotic stress tolerance of the transgenic rice plants overexpressing rice CDPK genes and identified three lines exhibiting increased tolerance to salt stress. More detailed functional analysis of these lines is in progress.