Abiotic stress responsive plant transcription factor polynucleotides and polypeptides and use thereof for generating transgenic plants

Abstract From the Canadian patent

Transgenic plants and cells that have been transformed with recombinant polynucleotides , encoding CCAAT-binding polypeptides are disclosed. Also provided are homologs of the , CCAAT-binding polypeptides from a variety of plant species and methods of using these , polynucleotides and polypeptides to produce transgenic plants having advantageous , properties compared to reference or control plants. The CCAAT-binding polypeptides , have been shown to confer to the transgenic plants late or early flowering or , increased , tolerance, to various abiotic stresses including salt abscisic acid, cold, heat, sugar, and drought, as compared to the reference or control plants.