For the improvement of drought tolerance in Jatropha curcas

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Jatropha curcas L. is one of the promising oil plants as a feed stock for future biodiesel production in the world. Despite the fact that J.curcas is believed to grow and yield oil even in semi-dry area, its physiological responses to water defit has not been studied at molecular level. In this work, we successfully determined the changes in profile of primary metabolite accumulation and gene expression upon drought in J.curcas. Physiological responses, such as stomatal conductance, growth, water and ABA content in leaf, were also examined. Some metabolic pathways and genes were suggested as possible targets for genetic improvement aiming to enhance Jatropha's drought tolerance. To perform such genetic manipulation, we also investigated various conditions for efficient transformation of J.curcas using Agrobacterium tumefaciens in this work.