Drought-stress-tolerant phenotype, water loss and stomatal assay.

<p>(A) Drought-stress-tolerant phenotype of transgenic maize (lines M-6 and M-8). Drought stress treatment was applied to 21-d-old seedlings of WT and transgenic maize by completely withholding irrigation for 10 d, then re-watering for 2 d. 21 d, 21-d-old seedling; D 2 d, completely withholding irrigation for 2 d; D 5 d, completely withholding irrigation for 5 d; D 10 d, completely withholding irrigation for 10 d; R 2 d, re-watered for 2 d. (B) Survival rates of transgenic maize plants overexpressing <i>LOS5</i> under drought-stress conditions. Fifty 21-d-old seedling from each lines or WT were deprived of water for 14 d, watering was resumed for 7 d, and then the plants were scored for viability. Plants were considered dead if all the leaves were brown and there was no growth after 7 d of watering. Each column represents an average of two independent experiments with three replicates, and values represented the mean ±SD. (C) Comparison of transpirational water loss in detached leaves of WT and transgenic maize. Values represent the mean ±SD (n = 4). (D) Comparison of stomatal apertures of WT and transgenic maize under drought stress conditions. Drought stress treatment was imposed as described in Fig. 2 (A) above. Error bars denote the standard deviation values, and asterisks indicated a significant difference (*<i>P</i><0.05) compared with the corresponding controls.