Generation of drought tolerance in Indica rice by introducing ZAT12 gene

The introduction of ZAT12 gene for drought tolerance into rice cv. ‘PR 116’ was carried out through particle bombardment. Callus was induced on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D(2.5 mg L⁻¹) + kinetin(0.5 mg L⁻¹) + proline (560 mg L⁻¹) + sucrose (30 g L⁻¹) + agar (8 g L⁻¹). The embryogenic scutellar calli(10–12 days old) were incubated on osmoticum medium for 4hr followed by bombardment with isolated ZAT-12 DNA (1 μg μL⁻¹). Next day morning bombarded calli were transferred to the recovery medium for 3 days to revive the growth followed by transfer onto the selection medium containing kanamycin (40 ppm). Percent selection recorded in genotype ‘PR116’ was 43.1% with the number of independent transgenic plants as 27. PCR analysis confirmed the presence of transgene ZAT12 in 16 independent plants. These plants were grown to maturity in transgenic glass house. All the plants exhibited normal growth and development.