, a NAC-Type Transcription Factor, Conferring Enhanced Drought and Salt Stress Tolerance in .

The NAC proteins form one of the largest families of plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) and play essential roles in developmental processes and stress responses. In this study, we characterized a NAC domain transcription factor, , from a legume . OoNAC72 was proved to be localized in the nuclei in tobacco lower epidermal cells and had transcriptional activation activity in yeast, confirming its transcription activity. expression could be induced by drought, salinity and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) in seedlings. Furthermore, over-expression of driven by CaMV35S promoter in resulted in ABA hypersensitivity and enhanced tolerance to drought and salt stresses during seed germination and post-germinative growth periods. In addition, over-expression of enhanced the expression of stress-responsive genes such as , , , , , , , and . These results highlight the important regulatory role of in multiple abiotic stress tolerance, and may provide an underlying reason for the spread of .