矮牵牛转录因子PhNF-YBs参与调节干旱胁迫耐性的机理解析

Petunia is an important commercial flower extensively used in landscaping. Drought is the main abiotic-stress factor hampering the grown of petunia. Thus, it is a matter of great urgency to explore more drought-tolerant genes and cultivating drought-tolerant varieties for petunia. Our recent study showed that several members of NF-YB family were induced by drought. In this study, NF-YBs associated withdrought tolerance will be screened using VIGS technology, and their functions in drought responses will be further identified by gene over-expression and knockout. The regulatory roles of the candidate NF-YBs in drought responsive networks will also be explored at transcriptional level. Our goal is to elucidate how the NF-YB genes improve the drought tolerance of petunia and to discover candidate genes for transgenic breeding of new petunia cultivars with strong drought tolerance.

矮牵牛是园林绿化中大量应用的重要花卉，干旱胁迫是限制矮牵牛生长发育的最主要逆境因子。因此，挖掘耐旱基因，利用基因工程手段定向培育矮牵牛耐旱新品种具有重要意义。申请者近期的研究发现，矮牵牛的多个NF-YB家族成员的表达量均受干旱胁迫所诱导，本研究拟通过VIGS技术初步筛选具有抗旱功能的NF-YB家族成员，并进一步通过过表达和基因敲除验证其功能，并从转录层面探讨PhNF-YBs在干旱信号转导途径中转录调控机理，为解释NF-YB基因如何提高植物耐旱性提供理论基础，进而为培育耐旱矮牵牛新品种提供基因储备。

矮牵牛是园林绿化中大量应用的重要花卉，干旱胁迫是限制矮牵牛生长发育的最主要逆境因子。因此，挖掘耐旱基因，利用基因工程手段定向培育矮牵牛耐旱新品种具有重要意义。矮牵牛的多个NF-YB家族成员的表达量均受干旱胁迫所诱导，本研究通过VIGS技术初步筛选到具有抗旱和开花调节功能的PhNF-YB13，并进一步通过过表达和基因敲除获得了转基因植株，并筛选到了与其互作的NF-YC家族成员，为解释NF-YB基因功能的进一步解析奠定了基础。