Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
table 6.1
(continued) List of representative genes conferring stress tolerance in
plants
S. no.
Name of gene
Full form
Trait
23.
SOS
Salt overly sensitive
Improved salt tolerance
24.
Glyoxylase
—
Improved salt tolerance
25.
Improved drought
tolerance
26. Invertase — Improved salt tolerance
Source:
Adapted from Bartels B and Sunkar R 2005.
Crit. Rev. Plant Sci.
, 24: 23-58.
NCED
9-
cis
-epoxycarotenoid
dioxygenase
scarcity are becoming more prevalent, biotechnology will help
create plants that can withstand these harsh conditions. There
are examples where plants are engineered to reduce the levels
of poly (ADP ribose) polymerase, an important stress-related
enzyme, resulting in GM plants that are able to survive drought
and showed 44% increase in yield compared to their non-
GM counterparts (Brookes and Barfoot, 2008). The United
Kingdom Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC) is work-
ing on another technology, which involves the use of transcrip-
tion factors and stress genes that act as genetic switches. This
technology has resulted in a twofold increase in productivity
for Arabidopsis and a 30% increase in yield for maize during
severe water stress. Additionally, new areas of research in bio-
technology are working toward creating plants that are resistant
to salt by introducing a gene from salt-tolerant mangroves into
food crops. With this technology, the available water sources
can be used more efficiently and the lands near rising oceans
that are subject to ground water salination will become fertile
for these salt-tolerant seeds. Creating plants with increased
yields means less land will be needed to plant and grow food.
With growing populations and climate-induced land loss, pro-
ducing higher yields on less land will become an essential com-
ponent of agriculture. In this context, in addition to hardier and
more water-efficient plants, biotechnology is also creating more
space-efficient plants.
Adaptation to
biotic stresses
Strains, resistant to biotic stresses such as insects, fungi, bac-
teria and virus have been developed through conventional
landscape-management practices and breeding initiatives,
leading to crop adaptation. For example, agricultural pest con-
trol strategies have been significantly benefited by the ability of
the soil bacteria (
Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt
) gene to be trans-
ferred into maize, cotton and other crops to import protection
