Figure 4.

Drought tolerance of SlbZIP38-overexpressing and Wild type (WT) plants. (A) SlbZIP38 expression in Wild type (WT) and transgenic plants (OE-2, OE-3, OE-5), as determined by qRT-PCR; (B) the performance of SlbZIP38-overexpressing and WT plants under drought stress. One-month-old transgenic (T2 generation) and WT plants were not watered for seven days (C–E); comparisons of chlorophll (C), malondialdehyde (MDA) (D), and free proline (E) content in the transgenic and WT plants after 7 d of dehydration. CK, samples from untreated plants serving as the control. Data represent the means ± SE (n = 3). Significantly different values from WT at * p < 0.05 and ** p < 0.01 level, respectively, as determined by Student’s t-test.