Alleviation of abiotic stress in canola using genetic engineering.

Poster presentation: Biotechnology and Sustainable Futures - no. POS-THU-068ComBio2017 — the combined meeting of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian Society of Plant Scientists and Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental BiologyBrassica napus (canola) is the second largest oilseed crop grown worldwide with the annual production in Australia being around three million metric tons. The canola industry is globally affected by abiotic stress conditions such as drought, high salinity, frost and biotic stresses imposed by fungi, bacteria and insects. There is a pressing need for crop trait improvement in canola to better withstand these stress conditions. In this regard, genetic engineering could be a useful tool to introduce novel genes that have the potential to alleviate such stresses. The Acyl-CoA-Binding Protein (ACBP) family is thought to be involved in intracellular acyl-CoA ester transport and has been implicated in stress mediation in many organisms. Frost tolerant rapid-cycling B. napus and canola cv. Westar were developed by introducing the Arabidopsis thaliana ACBP6 cDNA using Agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation. Transgenic Brassica lines at T3 progeny were tested for frost tolerance in cold-acclimated and non-acclimated conditions in an upright fan-forced freezer with an electronic temperature controller. Electrolyte leakage, which arises from damage to biological membranes during freezing, was measured and found to be lower in the transgenic lines than in the wild type in non-acclimated conditions. Seed survival was higher in the transgenic lines after freezing in non-acclimated conditions. These findings indicate that the overexpression of ACBP6 is potentially useful in making canola crops more tolerant to frost in the field situations. This remains to be tested