Characterization of a novel Medicago sativa NAC transcription factor gene involved in response to drought stress

Relying on the regulation of transcription factors, plants resist to various abiotic and biotic stresses. NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) are one of the largest families of plant-specific transcription factors and known to play important roles in plant development and response to environmental stresses. A new NAC gene was cloned on the basis of 503 bp EST fragment from the SSH cDNA library of Medicago sativa. It was 1,115 bp including an 816 bp ORF and encodes 271 amino acids. A highly conserved region is located from the 7th amino acid to the 315th amino acid in its N-terminal domain. The NAC protein is subcellularly localized in the nucleus of onion epidemical cells and possible functions as a transcription factor. The relative quantitative real-time RT-PCR was performed at different stress time. The results revealed that the transcription expression of NAC gene could be induced by drought, high salinity and ABA. The transgenic Arabidopsis with NAC gene has the drought tolerance better than the wild-type.