Abstract
Different abiotic stresses induce OsTZF1, a tandem CCCH-type zinc finger domain gene, in rice. Here, we report that transgenic rice plants overexpressing OsTZF1 under own promoter (P(OsTZF1):OsTZF1-OX [for overexpression]) transferred to soil showed normal growth similar to vector control plants. The P(OsTZF1):OsTZF1-OX produced normal leaves without any lesion mimic phenotype and exhibited normal seed setting. The P(OsTZF1):OsTZF1-OX plants showed significantly increased tolerance to salt and drought stresses and enhanced post stress recovery. Microarray analysis revealed a total of 846 genes up-regulated and 360 genes down-regulated in P(OsTZF1):OsTZF1-OX salt-treated plants. Microarray analysis of P(OsTZF1:)OsTZF1-OX plants showed the regulation of many abiotic stress tolerance genes. These results suggest that OsTZF1-OX under own promoter show abiotic stress tolerance and produces no pleiotropic effect on phenotype of transgenic rice plant.