Method of enhancing plant drought tolerance by expression of NDR1

1. A method of producing a plant having drought tolerance comprising:

a) introducing into at least one plant or plant part a vector comprising a nucleic acid molecule which expresses or increases expression of a polypeptide that confers drought tolerance, wherein the nucleic acid molecule comprises nucleic acid sequences selected from:

i) a nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or functional variants thereof;

ii) a nucleotide sequence that encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1;

iii) a nucleotide sequence encoding a NON-RACE-SPECIFIC DISEASE RESISTANCE1 (NDR1); and

iv) a nucleotide sequence encoding variants of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 having at least 95% identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1wherein the variants maintain the drought tolerance of SEQ ID NO:1;

b) exposing the plants to drought stress conditions for greater than 6 days; and

c) selecting at least one plant or plant part having improved drought tolerance from a plurality of plants or plant parts into which the vector has been introduced compared to a plant in which no vector has been introduced.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant or plant part is a monocot or dicot.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant or plant part is selected from corn, soybean, sunflower, sorghum, canola, wheat, alfalfa, cotton, rice, barley, tobacco, potato and sugar beet.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant part is a plant cell.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vector comprises a regulatory element operably linked to the nucleic acid molecule encoding the polypeptide and wherein the regulatory element comprises an inducible promoter.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the regulatory element comprises SEQ ID NO:3.

7. A plant or plant part having improved drought tolerance comprising a recombinant DNA construct comprising a polynucleotide operably linked to at least one regulatory element, wherein the at least one regulatory element comprises SEQ ID NO: 3and wherein the polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from:

i) a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO: 2;

ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with drought tolerance activity,

wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1; and

wherein the plant or plant part exhibits improved drought tolerance under drought stress conditions for greater than 6 days when compared to a plant or plant part not comprising the recombinant DNA construct.

8. The plant or plant part of claim 7 , wherein the plant is a monocot or dicot.

9. The plant or plant part of claim 7 , wherein the plant is selected from corn, soybean, sunflower, sorghum, canola, wheat, alfalfa, cotton, rice, barley, tobacco, potato and sugar beet.

10. The plant or plant part of claim 7 , wherein the at least one regulatory element is an NDR1 promoter.

11. The plant or plant part of claim 7 , wherein the regulatory element is an inducible, developmentally-regulated, or tissue-preferred promoter.

12. The plant or plant part of claim 7 , wherein the polynucleotide sequence is a synthetic sequence designed for expression in the plant.

13. The plant or plant part of claim 7 , wherein the plant part is a plant cell or a seed.