Reduced crop productivity results from altered plant physiological processes caused by dysfunctional proteins due to environmental stressors. In this study, a novel DnaJ Type-I encoding gene, having a zinc finger motif in its C-terminal domain was found to be induced early upon treatment with heat stress (within 5 min) in a heat tolerant genotype of RMO-40. is induced by multiple stresses. In tobacco, ectopic expression of reduced ABA sensitivity during seed germination and the early stages of seedling growth of transgenic tobacco plants. Concomitantly, it also improved the ability of transgenic tobacco plants to withstand drought stress by modulating the photosynthetic efficiency, with the transgenic plants having higher F/F ratios and reduced growth inhibition. Additionally, transgenic plants showed a reduced build-up of HO and lower MDA levels and higher chlorophyll content during drought stress, which attenuated cell damage and reduced oxidative damage. An analysis using the qRT-PCR study demonstrated that overexpression is associated with the expression of some ROS-detoxification-related genes and stress-marker genes that are often induced during drought stress responses. These findings suggest a hypothesis whereby positively influences drought stress tolerance and ABA signalling in transgenic tobacco, and suggests that it is a potential gene for genetic improvement of drought and heat stress tolerance in crop plants.
