| Summary: | Wheat is one of the most cultivated crops, and its production is greatly affected by abiotic stresses such as drought. Transcription factors that regulate multiple downstream genes have a good potential to improve stress tolerance due to their ability to modulate various response pathways. Many members of the C1-2i C2H2 zinc finger protein (ZFP) sub-family are up-regulated in response to abiotic stress and specific members were shown to improve oxidative and abiotic stress tolerance in different plant species. Our previous work demonstrated that the most up-regulated TaZFP, TaZFP1B, improves drought tolerance and oxidative stress protection. Based on their strong response to different abiotic stresses, five additional candidate TaZFPs were selected for functional characterization by reverse genetics in three wheat lines, using the four-component Barley Stripe Mosaic Virus system. Of the five candidates studied, TaZFP13D was the only gene that increased drought stress tolerance (resistance to wilting and improved relative water content) in three different wheat lines and significantly improved antioxidant enzymes activities resulting in lower accumulation of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, TaZFP13D down-regulation decreased drought stress tolerance suggesting that this gene does not have a redundant function within the TaZFPs family.
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