The Weizmann Institute of Science

Rahan Meristem (1998) Ltd.

Hazera Genetics Ltd.

Nataly Vinikur

Eli Khayat

Orna Livneh

Avi Gabai

Ada Zamir

Irena Gokhman

The present invention provides transgenic plants transformed with exogenous nucleic acid encoding asalt-inducible or salt-responsive protein selected from the group consisting of eukaryotic initiation factor 3 (eIF3) subunit, NADPH dependent quinone reductase (QOR), aldo-keto reductase (AKR), bifunctional aspartate kinase-homoserine reductase (AK-HSD) and mitochondrial import membrane translocase subunit (TIM9), or a fragment, homolog or variant thereof. The transgenic plants have increased tolerance to salt as compared to corresponding non-transgenic plants. The present invention further provides nucleic acids, constructs and vectors encoding thesalt-inducible or otherwise salt-responsive proteins, and to a method of producing transgenic plants having an increased tolerance to salt, a method of modifying plant capacity to survive salt shock, and a method of modifying plant recovery after exposure to salt stress, by introducing the nucleic acids, constructs and/or vectors into one or more cells of the plant.

Salt responsive genes useful for generating salt resistant transgenic plants

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Nahariya, Israel

Nataly Vinikur