A chickpea stress-responsive NAC transcription factor, CarNAC5, confers enhanced tolerance to drought stress in transgenic Arabidopsis

Environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, and cold are major factors that significantly limit agricultural productivity. NAC is a plant-specific transcription factor family, which plays essential roles in response to various abiotic stresses. We have identified a novel NAC gene CarNAC5 from chickpea in a previous study, which was induced by drought stress. In the present study, the promoter region of CarNAC5 was isolated. In silico analysis indicated that many basic cis-acting elements, which respond to environmental stresses and plant hormones, were harbored in CarNAC5 promoter region. EMSA and Yeast hybrid assays revealed that CarNAC5 could bind to the core DNA sequence CGT[G/A]. Overexpression of CarNAC5 enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, which was simultaneously demonstrated by the enhanced expression of abiotic stress-responsive genes and changes of several physiological indices. Our results indicated that CarNAC5 has potential for utilization in transgenic breeding to improve abiotic stress tolerances in crops.