On the final year of the DREB Project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), JIRCAS will be hosting an International Symposium.

December 12, 2012 (13:00 – 18:00)

Frequent occurrences of abnormal weather events such as droughts, floods, and extreme temperatures have lately been observed all over the world. Almost every year, some regions of the earth are hit by drought, damaging crops and disrupting agricultural production. In 2011, China, North America, and Australia were all hit by drought. In 2012, droughts in USA and Brazil caused severe damage. Given these events, crop varieties with tolerance to environmental stresses are being sought to reduce crop yield losses.

The Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) has been elucidating the molecular mechanisms inherent in plants, which enable them to cope with various abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and extreme heat/cold. DREB genes, which become very active under stress conditions, were discovered during this research. These genes generate proteins that act as ‘switches’ to regulate other various genes (transcription factors). It was demonstrated that when the activity of such switch genes were enhanced, the plants became tolerant not only to drought but also to high salinity or low temperature. A number of articles related to these findings have drawn the attention of many universities and research institutions all over the world.

In 2007, a DREB project, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery of Japan (MAFF), was launched to verify the effects of DREB genes under actual field conditions. It was carried out by introducing the genes into lowland rice, upland rice, and wheat.

This project is being implemented with JIRCAS as representative institute, in collaboration with RIKEN (which discovered different genes related to drought tolerance) and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)-affiliated centers, namely, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI, Philippines), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT, Columbia), and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, Mexico). JIRCAS and RIKEN are responsible for preparing constructs using genes related to drought tolerance while the CGIAR centers are in charge of transformation and evaluation of drought tolerance in the field.

In this symposium, representatives from each institute will present and discuss their research findings. In addition, the current status of drought tolerance breeding will be ascertained and the development status of Golden Rice will be reported. We will exchange opinions toward practical application of the project outputs in order to improve and sustain crop production.

Opening Remarks 13:00-13:05
Akihiko Uchikawa (Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council Secretariat, MAFF, Japan)

1 Outline of DREB Project

13:05-13:15
Demands of drought-tolerant crops and the DREB Project

Kazuhiro Suenaga (JIRCAS, Japan)

2 Gene and promoter isolation and their characterization
Chaired by Manabu Ishitani

13:15-13:40
Discovery and application of useful regulatory genes and promoters for molecular breeding of drought stress tolerance

Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki (JIRCAS/ University of Tokyo, Japan)

13:40-14:05
Discovery and application of useful functional genes for molecular breeding of drought stress tolerance

Kazuo Shinozaki (RIKEN, Japan)

3 Transformation and evaluation for drought tolerance
Chaired by Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki

14:05-14:30
Wheat transformation and evaluation for drought tolerance

Carolina Saint Pierre (CIMMYT, Mexico)

14:30-14:55
Transformation of lowland rice and evaluation of transformed rice under drought environment

Inez Slamet-Loedin and Amelia Henry (IRRI, Philippines)

14:55-15:10 COFFEE BREAK

15:10-15:35
Genetic improvement of upland rice for improved drought tolerance in Latin America through transgenic approach

Manabu Ishitani (CIAT, Columbia)

15:35-15:55
Transformation of upland New Rice for Africa (NERICA) with candidate genes for conferring tolerance to drought

Takuma Ishizaki (JIRCAS, Japan)

4 Breeding for drought tolerance and status of Golden Rice
Chaired by Takashi Kumashiro

15:55-16:20
Breeding for drought tolerance at CIMMYT

Marc Ellis (CIMMYT, Mexico)

16:20-16:45
Exploiting genetic diversity to tackle new challenges in rice breeding at CIAT

Cecile Grenier (CIAT, Columbia)

16:45-17:10
Marker-assisted breeding for increasing yield under drought

Arvind Kumar (IRRI, Philippines)

17:10-17:30
Status of Golden Rice

Inez Slamet-Loedin (IRRI, Philippines)

17:30-17:40 Discussion

Closing Remarks 17:40-17:45