Arabidopsis ATAF1 enhances the tolerance to salt stress and ABA in transgenic rice

NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) transcription factors are plant-specific and have diverse functions in many plant developmental processes and responses to stress. In our previous study, we found that the expression of ATAF1, an Arabidopsis NAC gene, was obviously induced by high-salinity and abscisic acid (ABA). The overexpression of ATAF1 in Arabidopsis increased plant sensitivity to ABA and salt. To investigate whether ATAF1 affects the sensitivity of monocotyledon plant to salt and ABA, ATAF1 transgenic rice were generated. Transgenic rice exhibited significantly improved salt tolerance and insensitivity to ABA. The results of real-time PCR showed that ATAF1 overexpression in rice elevated the transcription of OsLEA3, OsSalT1 and OsPM1, which are stress-associated genes. Our results indicate that ATAF1 plays an important role in response to salt stress and may be utilized to improve the salt tolerance of rice.