Induced Expression of DREB Transcriptional Factor and Study on Its Physiological Effects of Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Wheat

Expression vector pBAC128F, which carries DREB transcriptional factor gene driven by drought inducing promoter rd29B and bar gene driven by CaMV 35S promoter and maize Adh1 gene first intron, was transferred into the explants of immature inflorescence and immature embryos of hexaploid winter wheat cv. 8901, 5–98, 99–92 and 104 by particle bombardment. More than 70 resistant transgenic plants were obtained. Genomic PCR and RNA dot blotting analyses showed that DREB gene had been integrated into wheat genome of the transgenic plants (T0 and T1) and was well expressed in offspring seed of different transgenic lines. The content of proline in leaves and seeds of T2 transgenic lines was analyzed. Among 16 tested transgenic lines, 10 transgenic lines exhibited more than two fold of proline level in leaves as compared with CK plants. Under drought condition, after stopping water for 15 days the leaves of transgenic lines were still green, while CK were faded. After rewatering for 10 days, the leaves of transgenic lines maintained their green, while all CK plants were dead. Our research suggested that introducing a novel DREB transcriptional factor into wheat is an effective way to improve its drought-tolerance ability.