The 14-3-3 Protein BdGF14a Increases the Transcriptional Regulation Activity of BdbZIP62 to Confer Drought and Salt Resistance in Tobacco.

, a gene from , induced by salt, HO, and abscisic acid (ABA), improved tolerance to drought and salt in tobacco, with a higher survival rate and longer roots under these stresses. Additionally, physiological index analyses showed that the heterologous expression of induced higher expression levels of antioxidant enzymes and their activities, leading to lighter DAB and NBT staining, denoting decreased HO content. Additionally, the lower MDA content and ion leakage indicated enhanced cell membrane stability. Moreover, exogenous ABA resulted in shorter roots and a lower stomatal aperture in transgenic plants. BdGF14a interacted with NtABF2 and regulated the expression of stress-related genes. However, adding an ABA biosynthesis inhibitor suppressed most of these changes. Furthermore, similar salt and drought resistance phenotypes and physiological indicators were characterized in tobacco plants expressing BdbZIP62, an ABRE/ABF that interacts with BdGF14a. And Y1H and LUC assays showed that BdGF14a could enhance the transcription regulation activity of NtABF2 and BdbZIP62, targeting by binding to the ABRE -element. Thus, BdGF14a confers resistance to drought and salinity through interaction with BdbZIP62 and enhances its transcriptional regulation activity via an ABA-mediated signaling pathway. Therefore, this work offers novel target genes for breeding salt- and drought-tolerant plants.