Genetic transformation of corn with candidate genes responsive to the abiotic stresses associated with climate change

• Grant number: 18/20149-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: July 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Arruda
• Grantee: Ana Paula Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG)
• Associated research grant: 16/23218-0 - The Genomics for Climate Change Research Center, AP.PCPE

Abstract

Climate change in the last few decades has happened rapidly in many agricultural regions around the world. The damage caused by these climatic changes has risen up the challenge of developing new adapted crop genotypes that are more productive in environments subjected to stress. The research in wild species adapted to the extreme conditions of the environment will provide knowledge for the identification of genes responsive to the abiotic stress associated with these conditions. Among the tolerant species are the endophytic plants, which occupy environments with extreme temperatures and scarcity of water and/or nutrients. The objective of this project is to identify genes responsive to these stress and to use them in genetic transformation of maize (Zea mays) to generate elite events with improved performance for drought and heat events. Genetic modification of maize via Agrobacterium tumefaciens will be performed within a large-scale, continuous transformation pipeline using immature embryos from maize genotypes of better response to transformation, such as the Hi-II hybrid and the B104 lineage, due to its positive response to induction of embryogenic calli. The development of a routine scale of genetic transformation will be carried out, as well as the optimization of protocols for expressive progress in the generation of events. The generated transgenic events will be analyzed and characterized for the response and effect of the transgene insertion of interest in the presence of the target stress of the study. Therefore, the information and products generated in this project, using biotechnological tools, will contribute to the understanding and elucidation of genetic processes of plants involved in the response to the various abiotic stress. It is also aimed to contribute to the generation of biotechnological assets that may be applied in the agricultural production process.