ENHANCEMENT OF DROUGHT TOLERANCE IN RICE (Oryza sativa L.) USING OXO-PHYTODIENOATE REDUCTASE 7 (OPR7) GENE

Drought represents one of the major challenges that face agriculture in Egypt especially rice. Therefore, development of drought tolerant rice cultivars is an essential step to overcome the drought stress and yield loss. Embryonic calli derived from mature grains of two Egyptian rice cultivars G178 and Sk106 have been transformed by Oxo-phytodienoate reductase 7 (OPR7) gene using Agrobacterium– mediated transformation system. The results of transgenic plantlets analysis showed that OPR7 gene was successfully integrated into some transgenic T0 and T1 plantlets of both rice cultivars. Moreover, OPR7 gene expression in genetically modified plants was confirmed by real time PCR. The examination of the photosynthetic pigmentation, proline content and relative water content revealed higher levels in the drought treated transgenic plants than the non transgenic plants.