Soil salinity is one of the most important limiting factors of agricultural productivity in the world. The Triticum aestivum salt tolerance-related gene (TaSTRG) possesses a functional response to salt and drought stress conditions. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2016) 40: 727-735 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Enhanced salt tolerance of transgenic tobacco expressing a wheat salt tolerance gene 1, 2 3 3 Musa KAVAS *, Mehmet Cengiz BALOĞLU , Ayşe Meral YÜCEL , Hüseyin Avni ÖKTEM 1 Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey 2 Department of Genetics and Bioengineering, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu, Turkey 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Soil salinity is one of the most important limiting factors of agricultural productivity in the world. The Triticum aestivum salt tolerance-related gene (TaSTRG) possesses a functional response to salt and drought stress conditions. A variety of stress factors, such as salt, drought, abscisic acid, and cold, may induce the expression of TaSTRG in wheat. In this study, the TaSTRG gene was transferred to tobacco via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Overexpression of TaSTRG in transgenic tobacco plants indicated higher salt tolerance and mediated more vigorous growth than in wild-type plants. Under salt stress conditions, the transgenic tobacco plants had higher germination and survival rates and longer root length than the control plants. Under salt treatments (200–250 mM), TaSTRGoverexpressing tobacco plants accumulated a higher amount of proline and had significantly lower malondialdehyde content than wild-type plants. Furthermore, transgene inheritance followed Mendelian laws, indicating the stability of TaSTRG in transgenic tobacco plants. These results indicated that the wheat TaSTRG gene plays an important role in responding to salt stress. Key words: Gateway cloning, salt resistance, TaSTRG, tobacco, wheat 1. Introduction Salt stress is among the major abiotic stresses that .
