Book with abstracts from the COST Action 0905 meeting in ... - UMB
Book with abstracts from the COST Action 0905 meeting in ... - UMB
Book with abstracts from the COST Action 0905 meeting in ... - UMB
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EXPRESSING NcZNT1 AND NcZTP1 FROM NOCCAEA (THLASPI)<br />
CAERULESCENS ENHANCE Zn AND Cd TOLERANCE AND<br />
ACCUMULATION IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA<br />
Zeshan Hassan 1 , Sangita Talukdar 1 , Henk Schat 2 and Mark G.M. Aarts 1<br />
1 Lab of Genetics, Wagen<strong>in</strong>gen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB,, Wagen<strong>in</strong>gen,<br />
The Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands<br />
2 Ecology and Physiology of Plants, Faculty of Biology, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan<br />
1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands<br />
Keywords: Biofortification, Cadmium (Cd), hyperaccumulation, Noccaea<br />
caerulescens, Z<strong>in</strong>c (Zn).<br />
Z<strong>in</strong>c is a vital part of human nutrition and <strong>the</strong>re is a global Zn deficiency <strong>in</strong> human diet<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g reported. Biofortification is an important tool to improve <strong>the</strong> nutritional value of<br />
food crops by us<strong>in</strong>g plant breed<strong>in</strong>g and biotechnology. Noccaea (Thlaspi) caerulescens is a<br />
model metal hyperaccumulator species that can accumulate up to 3% of z<strong>in</strong>c, but also high<br />
amounts of nickel and cadmium. NcZNT1 is a member of IRT1 like prote<strong>in</strong> family <strong>in</strong> N.<br />
caerulescens and is localized to plasma membrane while NcZTP1 is a member of <strong>the</strong> CDF<br />
gene family, predicted to localize to <strong>the</strong> vacuolar membrane. We have expressed both <strong>the</strong>se<br />
genes separately <strong>in</strong>to Arabidopsis thaliana under <strong>the</strong> control of constitutive CaMV 35S<br />
promoter to <strong>in</strong>vestigate <strong>the</strong>ir role <strong>in</strong> Zn accumulation and tolerance. Transgenic plants <strong>with</strong><br />
high expression of <strong>the</strong> transgenes were grown hydroponically under high Zn, Cd, or low Fe<br />
supply. Transgenic plants were more tolerant to high Zn, Cd and low Fe, and accumulate<br />
more Zn and Cd. We conclude that <strong>the</strong> over expression of NcZNT1 and NcZTP1 play a role<br />
<strong>in</strong> high Zn, Cd and low Fe tolerance and enhanced Zn and Cd accumulation probably<br />
through enhanced Zn uptake <strong>in</strong>side cells and compartmentalization <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> vacuole<br />
respectively. This can be one step fur<strong>the</strong>r towards <strong>the</strong> progress of a viable GMO-based<br />
Biofortification technology.