Method for producing plants having an increased tolerance against drought and/or fungal attack and/or increased salt concentrations and/or extreme temperature by the expression ofplasmodesmata-localized proteins

Abstract From the Canadian patent

The invention relates to the use of nucleic acids which code a (poly)peptide with an intrinsic affinity to plasmodesmata to the production of plants or , parts thereof having an increased tolerance against drought and/or fungal infections and/or increased salt concentrations and/or extreme temperature (heat, cold), and to corresponding methods. According to the invention a , plant, a plant tissue or a plant cell is advantageously transfected with the nucleic acid. The nucleic acid preferably codes a virus-coded transport protein which, in an especially preferred embodiment is a derivative of the , pr17 protein with a hydrophilic N-terminal extension.