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Oryza sativa PHOSPHATE RESPONSE2 (OsPHR2) can promote the uptake and use of phosphorus (P) in rice. We introduced OsPHR2 into the winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) variety "Zhengmai0856." OsPHR2 was integrated into the wheat genome with two copy numbers and could be correctly transcribed and expressed. OsPHR2 was mainly expressed in the leaves at the seedling stage. From the jointing to filling stage, OsPHR2 was mainly expressed in the roots, followed by the leaves, with a low expression level in detected the tassels and stems. The transgenic lines exhibited higher P accumulation at each growth stage and increased P uptake intensity in comparison to the wild type under low P and high P conditions. Analysis of the root characteristics showed that the transgenic expression of OsPHR2 increased the maximum root length, total root length, root-to-shoot ratio, and root volume under the conditions of P deficiency or low P. A field experiment showed that the transgenic lines had a higher grain yield than the wild type under low P and high P conditions. The yield of the transgenic lines increased by 6.29% and 3.73% on average compared with the wild type under low P and high P conditions, respectively. Thus, the transgenic expression of OsPHR2 could increase P uptake and yield in wheat, but the effect was more prominent under low P conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of potassium in soil limits crop yield. Increasing yield and conserving potassium ore requires improving K use efficiency (KUE). Many genes influence KUE in plants, but it is not clear how these genes function in the field. We identified the V-type H+-pyrophosphatase gene EdVP1 from Elymus dahurica. Gene expression analysis showed that EdVP1 was induced by low potassium stress. Protein subcellular localization analysis demonstrated that EdVP1 localized on the plasma membrane. We overexpressed EdVP1 in two wheat varieties and conducted K tolerance experiments across years. Yield per plant, grain number per spike, plant height, and K uptake of four transgenic wheat lines increased significantly compared with WT; results from two consecutive years showed that EdVP1 significantly increased yield and KUE of transgenic wheat. Pot experiments showed that transgenic plants had significantly longer shoots and roots, and higher K accumulation in shoots and roots and H+-PPase activity in shoots than WT under low K. A fluidity assay of potassium ion in EdVP1 transgenic plant roots showed that potassium ion influx and H+ outflow in transgenic plants were higher than WT. Overexpressing EdVP1 significantly improved yield and KUE of transgenic wheat and was related to higher K uptake capacity in root. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two transgenic wheat lines, PC27 and PC51, containing the maize PEPC gene and its wild-type (WT) were used as experimental material to study the effects of high temperature on their photosynthetic physiological characteristics and metabolome. The results showed that transgenic wheat lines had higher photosynthetic rate ( P ) than WT under non-stress treatment (NT) and high temperature stress treatment (HT), and more significantly under HT. The change trends of F / F , Ф , and q were similar to P , whereas that of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) was the opposite. Compared with WT, no differences in chlorophyll content between the transgenic wheat and WT were observed under NT, but two transgenic lines had relatively higher contents than WT under HT. The change trends of Chlorophyll a/b radio, the decreased values of F , W, and V, and the activity of the antioxidant enzyme were consistent with the chlorophyll content. Compared with WT, transgenic wheat lines exhibited lower rate of superoxide anion production, HO and malondialdehyde content under HT, and no significant differences were observed under NT. The expression pattern of the ZmPEPC gene and wheat endogenous photosynthesis-related genes were in agreement with that of P . Compared with WT, about 13 different metabolites including one organic acid, six amino acids, four sugars, and two polyols were identified under NT; 25 different metabolites including six organic acids, 12 amino acids, four sugars, and three polyols were identified under HT. Collectively, our results indicate that ZmPEPC gene can enhance photochemical and antioxidant enzyme activity, upregulate the expression of photosynthesis-related genes, delay degradation of chlorophyll, change contents of proline and other metabolites in wheat, and ultimately improves its heat tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lodging is one of the most important factors that reduce wheat grain yields. To improve lodging resistance, increasing the strength of wheat stems has been an important breeding objective. To assess the rate of genetic improvement of the character, 30 wheat accessions, varying from landraces to cultivars that have been widely grown in Henan Province, China during the last 70 years, were tested for several parameters of lodging resistance in a two-year experiment. Stem strength, morphological and anatomical traits, and chemical composition were measured. The results showed that stem strength, both at anthesis and 25 days thereafter, has increased significantly during this period with average annual genetic gains of 1.07 and 0.87 %, respectively. Compared with older wheat cultivars, stem walls of modern cultivars are thicker, and the lignin content is higher. Grain yield has been significantly increased over the last 70 years, and the results of multiple regression analysis indicated that the genetic improvement of grain yield was associated with the increase in stem strength and the decrease in plant height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing drought tolerance of crops has been a great challenge in crop improvement. Here, we report the maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase ( PEPC) gene was able to confer drought tolerance and increase grain yield in transgenic wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) plants. The improved of drought tolerance was associated with higher levels of proline, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and higher water use efficiency. The transgenic wheat plants had also a more extensive root system as well as increased photosynthetic capacity during stress treatments. The increased grain yield of the transgenic wheat was contributed by improved biomass, larger spike and grain numbers, and heavier 1000-grain weight under drought-stress conditions. Under non-stressed conditions, there were no significant increases in these of the measured traits except for photosynthetic rate when compared with parental wheat. Proteomic research showed that the expression levels of some proteins, including chlorophyll A-B binding protein and pyruvate, phosphate dikinase, which are related to photosynthesis, PAP fibrillin, which is involved in cytoskeleton synthesis, S-adenosylmethionine synthetase, which catalyzes methionine synthesis, were induced in the transgenic wheat under drought stress. Additionally, the expression of glutamine synthetase, which is involved in ammonia assimilation, was induced by drought stress in the wheat. Our study shows that PEPC can improve both stress tolerance and grain yield in wheat, demonstrating the efficacy of PEPC in crop improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using particle bombardment transformation, we introduced maize pepc cDNA encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and ppdk cDNA encoding pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) into the C crop wheat to generate transgenic wheat lines carrying cDNA of pepc (PC lines), ppdk (PK lines) or both (PKC lines). The integration, transcription, and expression of the foreign genes were confirmed by Southern blot, Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (Q-RT-PCR), and Western blot analysis. Q-RT-PCR results indicated that the average relative expression levels of pepc and ppdk in the PKC lines reached 10 and 4.6, respectively, compared to their expressions in untransformed plants (set to 1). The enzyme activities of PEPC and PPDK in the PKC lines were 4.3- and 2.1-fold higher, respectively, than in the untransformed control. The maximum daily net photosynthetic rates of the PKC, PC, and PK lines were enhanced by 26.4, 13.3, and 4.5 %, respectively, whereas the diurnal accumulations of photosynthesis were 21.3, 13.9, and 6.9 %, respectively, higher than in the control. The F/F of the transgenic plants decreased less than in the control under high temperature and high light conditions (2 weeks after anthesis), suggesting that the transgenic wheat transports more absorbed light energy into a photochemical reaction. The exogenous maize C-specific pepc gene was more effective than ppdk at improving the photosynthetic performance and yield characteristics of transgenic wheat, while the two genes showed a synergistic effect when they were transformed into the same genetic background, because the PKC lines exhibited improved photosynthetic and physiological traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Drought tolerance and proteomics studies of transgenic wheat containing the maize C4 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) gene" is presented.