Overexpression of SgDREB2C from Stylosanthes guianensis Leads to Increased Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis

is an excellent forage legume in subtropical and tropical regions with drought tolerance, but little is known about its drought tolerance mechanism. Dehydration responsive element binding proteins (DREBs) are responsive to abiotic stresses. A was cloned from , while SgDREB2C protein was localized at nucleus. transcript was induced by dehydration treatment. Transgenic overexpressing showed enhanced osmotic and drought tolerance with higher levels of relative germination rate, seedlings survival rate and / and lower levels of ion leakage compared with WT after osmotic and drought stress treatments. In addition, higher levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities and stress responsive gene ( , ) transcripts were observed in transgenic than in WT under drought stress. These results suggest that SgDREB2C regulated drought tolerance, which was associated with increased SOD and APX activities and stress-responsive gene expression under drought stress.