Overexpression of the wheat salt tolerance-related geneTaSCenhances salt tolerance inArabidopsis

A novel gene namedTaSCwas cloned from salt-tolerant wheat. Northern blot showed that the expression ofTaSCin salt-tolerant wheat was up-regulated after salt stress. Real-time quantitative PCR analyses showed thatTaSCexpression was induced by salt and ABA in wheat. Localization analysis showed that TaSC proteins were localized to the plasma membrane in transgenicArabidopsis thaliana. The overexpression ofTaSCin Col-0 andatsc(SALK_072220)Arabidopsisstrains resulted in increased salt tolerance of the transgenic plants.TaSCoverexpression in Col-0 andatscsignificantly up-regulated the expression ofAtFRY1, AtSAD1, andAtCDPK2.AtCDPK2overexpression inatscrescued the salt-sensitive phenotype ofatsc. TheTaSCgene may improve plant salt tolerance by acting via the CDPK pathway.