P0385 OsbHLH148 Confers Drought Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Han Yong Lee , Department of Agricultural Biotechnology-Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
Ju-Seok Seo , Department of Agricultural Biotechnology-Seoul National University, seoul, South Korea
Tae Young Um , Department of Agricultural Biotechnology-Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
Yang Do Choi , Department of Agricultural Biotechnology-Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
A rice basic helix-loop-helix domain gene, OsbHLH148, confers drought tolerance in rice. OsbHLH148 transcript level was rapidly increased by treatments with methyl jasmonate (MeJA), abscisic acid (ABA), and abiotic stresses including dehydration, high salinity, low temperature, and wounding. In order to study the role of OsbHLH148 in Arabidopsis, constitutive overexpressed Arabidopsis of OsbHLH148 (CaMV35S:OsbHLH148) was generated and it showed tolerance to drought stress. The Fv/Fm levels were 45% higher in transgenic than in wild type Arabidopsis plants. OsbHLH148 overexpression activated AtJAZ and other MeJA responsive genes including AtMYC2. Also, transgenic plants showed a strong inhibition of early root growth response to ABA as compared with the wild type. Thus, overexpression transgenic plants confirm that OsbHLH148 positively regulates MeJA/ABA signaling during root growth and plays the role of drought tolerance in Arabidopsis. Further studies to discover target genes controlled by OsbHLH148 in Arabidopsis are under progress
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