| Genetic Transformation of Alfalfa Cultivars with the Barley HvDRF1 Gene for Enhanced Drought Tolerance |
| Paper ID : 1023-ISCH |
| Authors |
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Mohamed Hamed *, Ibtisam Hammad, Abdelfattah Badr, Eman Tawfik Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt |
| Abstract |
| Drought stress is among the most critical challenges affecting crop productivity and is expected to become increasingly restrictive under future climate change conditions. To address this issue, drought-tolerant genes have been isolated from barley and utilized in developing stress-tolerant cultivars in other plant species through targeted gene transfer techniques. This study aimed to introduce the HvDRF1 gene; recognized for its role in drought tolerance, into alfalfa cultivars using chitosan nanoparticles as a gene delivery system. The integration and expression of the HvDRF1 gene in the transformed alfalfa plants were confirmed via PCR and RT-PCR analyses. Evaluation of drought tolerance through morphological and physiological assessments revealed that the transgenic plants exhibited significantly improved drought tolerance compared to their non-transformed counterparts. Enhanced expression of drought related traits including increased proline content, biomass accumulation, photosynthetic pigment levels, phenolic and flavonoid concentrations, and relative water content (RWC) demonstrated the effectiveness of the gene transfer. These findings underscore the potential of chitosan nanoparticles as a reliable vector for genetic transformation in alfalfa and possibly other crop species, offering a promising approach to improving drought tolerance in agriculture. |
| Keywords |
| Alfalfa (Medicago sativa); HvDRF1; Barley (Hordeum vulgare); Drought tolerance; Genetic transformation; Chitosan nanoparticles; Gene expression |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Poster Presentation) |