GM Tobacco Able to Grow on Zinc-Contaminated Soil

Source from:  checkbiotech.org Monday, February 13, 2006 02/14/2006

Researchers at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, report on a new strategy to confer heavy metal tolerance in plants. In an article published in the journal of Plant Physiology this month, the authors report high methyl glyoxal accumulation in plants growing on high concentrations of zinc and other heavy metals. Over-expression in tobacco of either glyoxalase I or II on their own confers increased zinc tolerance with no penalties on yield and reproduction, and performance was further enhanced in double transgenics. The authors believe that increased production of phytochelatins, proteins that bind excess metals to prevent them from damaging the cell, is likely to be one of the mechanisms mediating zinc tolerance in transgenic tobacco plants. Over-expression of glyoxalase I and II in transgenic plants has previously been reported to also increase drought tolerance. This approach has the potential to develop multiple-stress tolerance in important food crops. To access the abstract for the article, "Glutamine Synthetase-Glutamate Synthase Pathway and Glutamate Dehydrogenase Play Distinct Roles in the Sink-Source Nitrogen Cycle in Tobacco," visit: http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/abstract/140/2/444 Subscribers to Plant Physiology can read the complete article at: http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/140/2/444 Enditem