Figure 4. Enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic lines when compared with the WT and VC.

The WT, VC and transgenic lines were cultured in MS medium under a 16 h light/8 h dark cycle at 25°C for one week, and then the plants were transplanted to containers filled with a mixture of soil and sand (3∶1) where they were regularly watered for two or five weeks. Six-week-old seedlings of transgenic and WT tobacco plants grown in pots were deprived of water for 20 d and the photos were taken (A). Three-week-old seedlings of transgenic and WT tobacco plants grown in pots were deprived of water for 20 d and the photos were taken (B). The whole two-week-old seedlings of transgenic plants and WT were used to extract RNA to detect TaAQP7 expression by RT-PCR with NtUbiquitin as an internal control (C). Three biological experiments were performed, which produced similar results.