Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics
Open Access
ISSN: 0974-276X
ISSN: 0974-276X
Venkatesh K, Chakrapani P and A Roja Rani
: JPB
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important commercial oil seed crop rich in high quality edible oil (56%), protein (30%) and carbohydrate (20%). India produces 8 million tonnes from 7.6 million hectares. Salinity is the major limiting factor in peanut crop productivity resulting in yield loss and reduced seed quality. Salt stress has adverse influence on water relations, photosynthesis, mineral nutrition, metabolism and growth. Mechanisms that confer salt tolerance vary with the plant species; however the basic strategy works towards the maintenance of Na+ homeostasis in the cytosol. One of the possible mechanisms is to increase the solute concentration in the vacuoles of the plant cells i.e. to compartmentalize sodium ions. The accumulation of sodium ions inside the vacuoles provides a 2-fold advantage (i) reducing toxic levels of sodium in cytosol and (ii) increasing the vacuolar osmotic potential with the concomitant generation of a more negative water potential that favors water uptake by the cell and better tissue water retention under high soil salinity. NHX1 gene was introduced into pCAMBIA1302 vector with hygromycin as the selection marker and GFP as the reporter gene, mobilized into Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA 4404 and used for peanut transformation. The transformants were confirmed by PCR, Southern blotting and RT-PCR to confirm gene expression at the transcription level. Further evaluation of T1 and T2 plants in presence of 150 mM NaCl (including controls) for salt tolerance and ion analysis (Na+, K+ and Ca2+) in different parts of the transgenics. Our data demonstrate the potential of NHX1 for imparting enhanced salt tolerance capability to peanut varieties to grow in saline areas.