WRKY Transcriptional Factor WRKY70 from Enhances Drought and Salinity Tolerances in .

Drought and high salinity greatly affect plant growth and development. WRKY transcription factors play a key role in plant tolerance to abiotic stress, but the functions of s in the ornamental monocotyledon remain largely unexplored. In this study, we cloned and found that it is a Group III WRKY localized in the nucleus. The expression of was induced by NaCl and PEG-6000, which reached peaks (4.38 and 5.65 times) after 3 h and 1 h, respectively. The exogenous overexpression of in . significantly improved the resistance under NaCl and drought treatments, as evidenced by higher germination rates, longer root lengths, and increased fresh weights compared to those of control plants. In addition, transgenic seedlings showed significantly reduced wilting, higher photosynthetic performance, higher Fv/Fm and chlorophyll content, and lower stomatal conductance. Moreover, transgenic lines showed higher antioxidant enzymatic activities, lower reactive oxygen species (ROS), and lower malondialdehyde contents. Accordingly, we also found higher expressions of antioxidant defense genes, including , , and , in transgenic lines compared to controls under salt and drought stresses. Thus, enhances the abilities of salt and drought tolerances in plants, at least partially, via ROS regulation and can be used for breeding possessing enhanced salt and drought resistances.