Water Potential Characteristics of Transgenic Petunias Over-expressing Two Arabidopsis C-repeat Binding Factor cDNAs

Abstract

Petunia × hybrida `Electric Purple' plants, genetically transformed (Selecta Klemm Co.) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens to constitutively express the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter (CaMV35S) fused to two separate Arabidopsis c-repeat binding factor cDNAs (CBF3 & CBF4), were utilized to evaluate water relations. Non-stressed plants followed a classical stomatal conductance pattern, with maximum conductance between 1000 hr and 1400 hr. CBF3 and CBF4 plants showed an increase in transpiration rates and a decrease in stomatal resistance at 1230 hr, compared to `Electric Purple'. Transpiration rates (per unit leaf area) were similar in CBF3 and `Electric Purple' plants, but CBF4 plants were 12% less than `Electric Purple'. Xylem water potentials at visible wilt were between –1.4 and –1.5 MPa and there were no significant differences between line or irrigation treatment. A fourth experiment observed differential plant responses to stress cycles. Under non-stress irrigation conditions, CBF4 plants showed an increase in stomatal resistance and a decrease in transpiration rate compared to `Electric Purple' plants. There were no differences in the xylem water potential at visible wilt for the first and third stress cycles, but, for the second cycle, xylem water potentials at wilt were –1.9, –1.7 and –1.4 Mpa for CBF4, `Electric Purple' and CBF3 plants, respectively. CBF3 and CBF4 plants showed small differences in performance as compared to `Electric Purple' and under mild stress conditions as imposed in these experiments apparent heterologous overexpression of the Arabidopsis CBF3 & 4 transgenes may not be sufficient for conferring drought tolerance in petunia.