Figure 3.

MfNACsa Plays a Positive Role in Drought Stress Tolerance.

(A) Ten-day-old seedlings of the wild-type (R108) and lines ectopically expressing MfNACsa (OE23 and OE33) were subjected to three cycles of drought stress by withholding the water supply for 12, 14, and 18 d, respectively, until the leaves of wild-type plants exhibited primary wilting (ii). The mock plants were watered once a week, according to standard procedures (i).

(B) The survival rate of plants in (A), ii. The mean values and se were calculated from three independent experiments. The asterisk indicates a significant difference between ectopic expression of MfNACsa lines and wild-type plants (Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test, **P < 0.01).

(C) The leaf relative electrical conductivity of the plants in (A), ii. The mean values and se were calculated from three independent experiments. The asterisk indicates a significant difference between ectopic expression of MfNACsa lines and wild-type plants (Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test, **P < 0.01).

(D) The phenotypes of the wild-type (R108) and nacsa mutants (nacsa-1 and nacsa-2) subjected to three cycles of drought stress by withholding the water supply for 12, 14, and 14 d, respectively. Seedlings were photographed when the leaves of mutants exhibited primary wilting (ii). The mock plants were watered once a week, according to standard procedure (i).

(E) The survival rate of plants in (D), ii. The mean values and se were calculated from three independent experiments. The asterisk indicates a significant difference between nacsa mutants and wild-type plants (Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test, **P < 0.01).

(F) The leaf relative electrical conductivity of plants in (D), ii. The mean values and se were calculated from three independent experiments. The asterisk indicates a significant difference between nacsa mutants and wild-type plants (Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test, **P < 0.01).