Figure 9.

TaBZR2 regulates wheat drought tolerance through the BR-dependent pathway. A, The expression levels of stress-responsive genes in TaBZR2 transgenic (TaBZR2-overexpressing lines and TaBZR2-RNAi lines) and wild-type plants grown in half-strength Hoagland’s liquid medium, medium containing 15% (w/v) PEG 6000, medium containing 10 nm of BR, or medium containing 15% (w/v) PEG 6000 + 10 nm of BR for 6 h. Each data point is the mean (±se) of three experiments (10 seedlings per experiment). B, Protein level of TaBZR2 in TaBZR2-overexpressing, TaBZR2-RNAi, and wild-type wheat plants upon drought and BR treatments for 6 h. Total proteins were extracted and subjected to immunoblot analysis with anti-TaBZR2 antibodies. Rubisco was used as a loading control. C, NBT staining in primary root tip of TaBZR2-overexpressing, TaBZR2-RNAi, and wild-type wheat plants grown in half-strength Hoagland’s liquid medium, medium containing 15% (w/v) PEG 6000, medium containing 10 nm of BR, or medium containing 15% (w/v) PEG 6000 + 10 nm of BR for 72 h. The strength of color shows the concentration of O₂⁻ in the root tips. Scale bar = 1 mm. D, Measurements of the O₂⁻ contents of TaBZR2-overexpressing, TaBZR2-RNAi, and wild-type wheat plants grown in half-strength Hoagland’s liquid medium, medium containing 15% (w/v) PEG 6000, medium containing 10 nm of BR, or medium containing 15% (w/v) PEG 6000 + 10 nm of BR for 72 h. Each data point is the mean (±se) of six biological replicates. The asterisks indicate significant differences between TaBZR2 transgenic (TaBZR2-overexpressing lines and TaBZR2-RNAi lines) and wild-type plants (Student’s t test, **P < 0.01). WT, wild type.