Patent ID: 8324454

Claim:
A method of increasing tolerance to salinity in a plant, said method comprising (I) transforming a plant cell with a first nucleotide sequence that is a regulatory region operably linked to at least one second isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 146; (b) the nucleotide sequence according to SEQ ID NO: 145; and (c) a nucleotide sequence hybridizing to the full length complementary sequence of the nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 145 under high stringency conditions which comprise (i) hybridization at 42° C. in 50% formamide, 6×SSC or 6×SSPE, 0.05% Blotto or 5× Denhardt's Reagent, 100 μg/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA, 0.05% SDS and washings at 65° C. first in 2×SSC, 0.1% SDS for at least 30 min to one hour and subsequently in 0.1×SSC, 0.5% SDS for at least 30 min to one hour; or (ii) hybridization at 65° C. in 6×SSC or 6×SSPE, 0.05% Blotto or 5× Denhardt's Reagent, 100 μg/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA, 0.05% SDS and washings at 65° C. first in 2×SSC, 0.1% SDS for at least 30 min to one hour, and subsequently in 0.1×SSC, 0.5% SDS for at least 30 min to one hour; wherein said hybridizing nucleotide sequence encodes a calcium binding protein having a PsbP domain; (II) expressing said second isolated nucleic acid; (III) generating from said plant cell a transformed plant in which said at least one second isolated nucleic acid is overexpressed; and (IV) selecting from a plurality of said transformed plants a plant exhibiting increased tolerance to salinity as compared to a control plant.