OsMLP423 is a positive regulator of tolerance to drought and salt stress in rice

Drought and salinity is one of the important abiotic factors that adversely affects plant growth and production.We screened a drought-inducing gene containing about 158 amino acid residues from the transcriptome library of rice exposed to drought treatment, and found ABA-related cis-acting elements and multiple drought-stress-related cis-acting elements in its promoter sequence. The physiological and biochemical phenotype analysis of transgenic plants confirmed that overexpressed OsMLP423 enhanced the tolerance of rice to drought and salt stress. The expression of the OsMLP423 -GFP fusion protein showed that OsMLP423 was localized in both the cell membrane and nucleus. Compared with the wild-type, the plants over-expressing OsMLP423 showed the enhanced sensitivity to ABA. These results indicate that OsMLP423 is a positive regulator of drought and salinity tolerance in rice, governing the tolerance of rice to abiotic stress through an ABA-dependent pathway. This paper provides basic knowledge on the drought- and salt-tolerant transgenic rice with a potential application value.