Molecular breeding for drought-tolerance of crops
Project registration number: OTKA T038375
Contractor: Zsófia Bánfalvi, PhD
Agricultural Biotechnology Center, H-2101 Gödöllő, P.O. Box 411
Subcontractor: László Szabados, PhD
Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-6701 Szeged, P.O. Box 521
The major goal of the project is the improvement of drought tolerance of crops by molecular breeding. To achieve this aim identification of the activating signals and trans factors of the drought-specific plant promoters DS2 and P5CS will be attempted in the plant, Arabidopsis. The DS2 promoter will be fused to the coding region of the trehalose-phosphate-synthase gene of yeast and transferred to potato via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. This experiment will aid the development of a new generation of transgenic potato varieties with enhanced drought tolerance.