Identification and Characterization of DHN

AXEL JOEL RIZZO; HERNÁN PABLO BURRIEZA; ALEJANDRA MELGAR; SARA BEATRIZ MALDONADO; ROCÍO CENIZO; ALICIA ZELADA

Pullman, Washington

Simposio; 2nd International Quinoa Research Symposium; 2020

Washington State University, Sustainable Food Systems

Dehydrins (DHNs), a subfamily of group II LEA (late embryogenesis abundant) proteins, are involved in responses to diverse abiotic stresses in plants. DHNs have great attractive owing their remarkable ability to confer tolerance to conditions of drought, salinity and extreme temperatures. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) is a facultative halophyte plant adapted to thrive in a wide range of agroecosystems, which is interesting for stress tolerance studies. In this work, we identified all DHN genes encoded in the quinoa genome and analyzed their tissue-specific expression and response to salt stress. We isolated and cloned two salt-responsive DHN genes of C. quinoa, and the putative role of these proteins in stress tolerance will be evaluated by overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana. A better understanding of the relationship between dehydrins and abiotic stress will help elucidate the mechanisms through which plants respond to the environment and thus develop efficient biotechnological strategies to generate stress-resistant plants.