Isolation and Bioinformatics Analysisof SK2-type of Dehydrin1 (DHN1) Genefrom Egyptian Sorghum for Enhancing SalinityStress Tolerance in Transgenic Rice

To address the impact of salt stress on rice development and productivity, the Sorghum bicolor DHN1 (SbDHN1) gene was isolated and cloned into the pCambia1390 plant expression vector.Subsequently, two rice cultivars, Giza 177 and Giza 178, were transformed with the SbDHN1 gene for improved salt tolerance using biolistic transformation.The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) techniques confirmed the successful incorporation of the SbDHN1 gene into the rice genome.PCR analysis revealed transformation rates of 13% and 14% for Giza 177 and Giza 178, respectively.Both semi-qRT-PCR and salt evaluation further confirmed the expression of the SbDHN1 gene.The SbDHN1 sequence comparison with the published sequences in the NCBI database revealed that the SbDHN1 gene is unique since it showed in amino acid sequences homology ranging from 99.34-61.02%with the corresponding sequences in the database.In addition, the tolerance of the transgenic rice to salinity indicates the protective effect of the SbDHN1 via a common cellular pathway activated by salinity and enables it to grow better in marginal and newly reclaimed areas of Egypt.Nevertheless, the outcomes of this research pave the way for further improvement of various rice genotypes and other cereal crops to meet the global demand for food and feed in Egypt.