an Abiotic Stress-Induced Gene of Rice, Plays a Key Role in Drought Tolerance.

Drought stress is one of the major causes of crop losses. The WRKY families play important roles in the regulation of many plant processes, including drought stress response. However, the function of individual WRKY genes in plants is still under investigation. Here, we identified a new member of the WRKY families, , and analyzed its role in stress resistance by using a series of transgenic plant lines. positively regulates drought tolerance in rice. was expressed in all examined tissues and could be induced by various abiotic stresses and abscisic acid (ABA). was localized to the nucleus. Various abiotic stress-related cis-acting elements were observed in the promoters of . The results of -overexpressing plant analyses revealed that plays a positive role in drought stress tolerance. In addition, physiological analyses revealed that improves drought stress tolerance by improving the osmotic adjustment ability, oxidative stress tolerance, and water retention capacity of the plant. Furthermore, -overexpressing plants also showed higher sensitivity to exogenous ABA compared with that of wild-type rice (WT). Overexpression of also affected the transcript levels of ABA-responsive genes and the accumulation of ABA. These results indicate that plays a crucial role in the response to drought stress and may possess high potential value in improving drought tolerance in rice.