A Japanese independent administrative institution, the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), announced on December 3, 2004 that it has successfully identified a drought stress-activated protein kinase (SRK2C) contained in plants and produced a drought-tolerant plant.

Scientists created a transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plant containing an over-expressed SRK2C gene and conducted drought-tolerance experiments. Results showed that the transgenic plants were still alive 14 days after watering was stopped while wild plants raised under the same conditions all died, demonstrating that tolerance to drought was significantly improved in the transgenic plant.

The results obtained using Arabidopsis thaliana can also be obtained using other plants such as rice, soybean and tobacco. The technology could be applied in order to expand the extent of arable land in semi-arid regions and to prevent harvest shortfalls due to drought. This kind of biotechnology is eco-friendly and should be acceptable to consumers as the transgenic plant uses an endogenous gene.




Posted: 2005/04/01 08:14:34 AM
Japanese version

TAG Ecosystem , Food/Water , Technology , University/Research institute