Arabidopsis nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2 (AtNDPK2) is an upstream signaling molecule that has been shown to induce stress tolerance in plants. In this study, the AtNDPK2 gene, under the control of a stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter, was introduced into the genome of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) plants. The induction of the transgene expression mediated by methyl viologen (MV) and NaCl treatments were confirmed by RT-PCR and northern blot analysis, respectively. Under salt stress treatment, the transgenic tall fescue plants (SN) exhibited lower level of H2O2 and lipid peroxidation accumulations than the non-transgenic (NT) plants. The transgenic tall fescue plants also showed higher level of NDPK enzyme activity compared to NT plants. The SN plants were survived at 300 mM NaCl treatment, whereas the NT plants were severely affected. These results indicate that stress-inducible overexpression of AtNDPK2 might efficiently confer the salt stress tolerance in tall fescue plants.

• Ki-Won Lee(Grassland and Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA)
• Yong-Goo Kim(Division of Applied Life Science (BK21Plus), and IALS, Gyeongsang National University)
• Md. Atikur Rahman(Grassland and Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA)
• Dong-Hyun Kim(Division of Applied Life Science (BK21Plus), and IALS, Gyeongsang National University)
• Iftekhar Alam(National Institute of Biotechnology)
• Sang-Hoon Lee(Grassland and Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA)
• Yun-Hee Kim(Department of Biology Education, Gyeongsang National University)
• Sang-Soo Kwak(Plant Systems Engineering Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB))
• Dae-Jin Yun(Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Konkuk University)
• Byung-Hyun Lee(Division of Applied Life Science (BK21Plus), and IALS, Gyeongsang National University) Corresponding author