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Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions
Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613737685352448 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Allsopp, Daniel Hugh |
| author2 | Le Roux, Marlon-Schylor |
| author_browse | Allsopp, Daniel Hugh Le Roux, Marlon-Schylor |
| author_facet | Le Roux, Marlon-Schylor Allsopp, Daniel Hugh |
| author_sort | Allsopp, Daniel Hugh |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134117 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:40:54.381Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134117 Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions Allsopp, Daniel Hugh Le Roux, Marlon-Schylor Botha-Oberholster, Anna-Maria Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Genetics & Institute of Plant Biotechnology. Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Allsopp, D. H. 2025. Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/0537a8e5-dc21-4087-a7cd-37fdeb86f695 Wheat is one of the major staple crops globally. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of droughts, extending these events to wheat producing regions previously not prone to droughts. Consequently, yields and food security are under severe strain and the focus on developing drought tolerant wheat lines is intensifying. The improvement of drought tolerance through the regulation of stress escape strategies and the protection of critical biological functions, such as photosynthesis, from senescence under water deficit stress have resulted in the development of “stay green” wheat lines. Serine protease inhibitor (serpin) proteins have been identified as a key role player in stress response regulation in wheat. Serpins act as competitive irreversible inhibitors of target serine and cystine proteases and serpins such as Serpin-Z2B have been found to be upregulated in wheat under water deficit stress. The hypothesis for this study was that an upregulation of serpins correlates to improved drought tolerance and can therefore upregulation of serpins can be used as a target for selective breeding of drought tolerant wheat lines. The relationship between upregulated Serpin-S2B gene expression and improved drought tolerance across several SST and BIG commercial wheat lines, and their drought tolerant mutant lines, was investigated by assessing phenotypic and leaf physio-morphological traits under water deficit stress. Principle component analysis (PCA) revealed superior drought tolerance in the BIG 8-1 and SST 027 SA1 mutant lines associated with maintained photosynthesis in the leaves under water deficit stress. Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) of the Serpin-Z2B gene found an upregulation in gene expression under water deficit stress, especially in the SST 027 SA1 mutant. The role of Serpin-Z2B within wheat was investigated through predictive protein modelling to assess its functionality and identify structurally critical regions. An Agrobacterium mediated clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system was developed to knock-out Serpin-Z2B by inducing a loss of function mutation. BIG 8 wheat plants were transformed using the designed CRISPR vector and regenerated into P0 plants which have developed to the point of seed setting. This study found evidence to support previous findings by the Cereal Genomic Laboratory at Stellenbosch University that the Serpin-Z2B gene is associated with improved drought tolerance and may be a viable target for selective breeding to improve the “Stay green” trait in wheat lines. Furthermore, through the transformation of BIG 8 wheat lines with a Serpin-Z2B knock-out plasmid, the first steps have been taken to characterise the role of the Serpin-Z2B protein within wheat. Future research on Serpin-Z2B should investigate the metabolic activity of the Serpin-Z2B protein to identify its target within wheat. Characterization and assessment of the BIG 8 transformant wheat lines should also be performed to confirm successful knock-out of Serpin-Z2B and determine the effect this loss has on drought tolerance, plant physiology and grain quality. Masters 2025-10-14T07:01:44Z 2025-10-14T07:01:44Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134117 en Stellenbosch University 160 pages : ill. application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Allsopp, Daniel Hugh Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions |
| title | Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions |
| title_full | Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions |
| title_fullStr | Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions |
| title_short | Investigating the Influence of Serpin-Z2B in Common Bread Wheat Under Drought conditions |
| title_sort | investigating the influence of serpin z2b in common bread wheat under drought conditions |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134117 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT allsoppdanielhugh investigatingtheinfluenceofserpinz2bincommonbreadwheatunderdroughtconditions |