For the improvement of drought tolerance in Jatropha curcas

麻疯树（Jatropha curcas L.）是世界上最有前途的生物柴油原料之一。尽管人们认为麻瓜在半干旱地区也能生长和产油，但其对水分缺乏的生理反应尚未在分子水平上进行研究。在这项工作中，我们成功地确定了麻树初级代谢物积累和基因表达谱在干旱条件下的变化。研究了叶片的气孔导度、生长、水分和ABA含量等生理反应。提出了一些代谢途径和基因作为麻疯树抗旱性遗传改良的可能靶点。为了实现这种基因操作，我们还研究了利用农杆菌高效转化麻瓜的各种条件。

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.