Improvement of Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Tobacco Plants by a Dehydrin-Like Gene Transfer

A full-length cDNA of dehydrin BcDh2 from Boea crassifolia and its antisense nucleotidesequence have been transferred into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) NC89 under the controlof a caulifower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Under a progressive water stress, photosyntheticrate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance of the sense and antisense plantsreduced, and those of the control reduced much more. Photosynthetic rate, transpirationrate and stomatal conductance of all plants tested increased significantly 24 hourslater after recoveried water supply, and those of the sense and antisense plants werehigher than control. These indicated that overexpression of a dehydrin gene in tobaccomay improve tolerance to water stress for plants, however, antisense BcDh2 gene intransgenic plant did not influence physiological conditions. The results of germinationexperiment of the transgenic seeds showed that on MS medium with different concentrationPEG (8000), sense seed could more endure drought than control, while antisense seed wassensitive to drought. The results suggested that the overexpression of a dehydrin genein tobacco might improve the tolerance to water stress for plants.

Hydrogeochemistry and Origin of Thermal Groundwater in Bedrock Aquifers in Tianjin, China

Thermal groundwater resources were found to have occurred in deep-seated bedrock aquifers in the northeastern North China plain near Tianjin, China. Meso- to Neo-Proterozoic and Paleozoic carbonate rocks on the Cangxian uplift are capable of yielding 960-4 200 m 3/d of 60 to 96 ℃ water from the wells ranging in depth between 1 000 and 4 000 m. Conductive heat flow of 0.063 to 0.144 2 W/m 2 from the deep crust is responsible for this anomalous geothermal field. The water in the Ordovician aquifer is characterized by relatively high TDS, high concentrations of SO 4 and SO 4·Cl-Na·Ca type, but the waters from the Meso- to Neo-Proterozoic and Cambrian aquifers, by relatively low TDS, low concentrations of SO 4 and predominantly Cl·SO 4-Na type. It is noted that when the temperature of the waters increases at a rate of 10 ℃ in the range of 30-100 ℃, the content of SiO 2 increases at a rate of 12 to 15 mg/L, and fluoride concentration increases at a rate of 2.3 to 2.5 mg/L. Hydrochemical and isotopic data suggest that the thermal water in the bedrock aquifers is of meteoric origin and recharged in the northern mountain area to the north of the Baodi-Ninghe fault, and then flows laterally for a long distance from the north to the south to the city of Tianjin. Temperature of the waters increases because of heat exchange with the rocks and recharge by conductive heat flow from beneath.

Allergenicity assay of allergen from Dermatophagoides farinae in transgenic tobacco

Derf2 gene for one of mite allergens in Dermatophagoides farinae has been cloned and expressed under regulation of 35S promoter in transgenic tobacco. The tran-scriptional analysis showed that this mite complete gene structure in genomic sequence could be spliced at prediction site. Allergenicity assay with immunological sera indicated that the extracts from the transgenic tobacco gave obvious positive IgE binding reaction with specific serum pool. This work would be of potential use in allergenicity assessment of genetically modified food.