Zahid Ali, Saadia Naseem, Nighat Yasmeen, Hans Joerg Jacobsen and Fauzia Yusuf Hafeez
Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road Islamabad, Pakistan
Transgenic approaches have played significant role for modern plant development. In this regard, combined gene discovery and functional genomics have proven diversified mechanisms and gene families, which improved productivity by tolerating different abiotic stresses. We report here genetic stability and persistent morphological features of transgenic pea (Pisum sativum L.) plants harboring dicistronic vector construct pG0229MASnhx1/luc in subsequent six generations over a period of five years. In addition to salt stress tolerance (100mM NaCl), the transgenic plants also showed frost tolerance over wild type (WT) counter part. The frost tolerance of transgenic pea plants harboring Na+/H+ antiporter from A. thaliana is unexpected yet an important physiological trait which needs further investigations. The comparison of long term stored transgenic seeds under 30-50 degree C and glass house grown WT and transformed plants on various morphological and molecular characterization were investigated. The transgenic plants were found to be morphologically stable and tolerant to NaCl stress in subsequent generation. Genetic stability of transformed genes was confirmed prior to and after transfer of transgenic plants in glass house under different climatic conditions. Leaf size, shape and color, plant height, number of tendrils, flower shape, pod shape and grains were morphologically similar to WT counterpart in all transgenic generation. The work is in progress.
Keywords: Na+/H+ antiporter, transgenic pea, morphology, genetic stability.