Mohammad Mehdi Momeni - Department of Plant Breeding, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran.
Kiarash Jamshidi Goharrizi - Department of Plant Breeding, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran.
Rambod Pakzad - Department of Plant Breeding, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran.
Mansour Kalantar - Department of Plant Breeding, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran.

One of the most important groups of transcription factors in plants is NAC protein family which participates in plant reaction to abiotic stresses. Arabidopsis thaliana is a momentous model organism whose genome is completely sequenced and is very valuable for plant biologists. Salinity and drought stresses are two of the most important tensions which can restrict growth and plants yield. In this study, we investigated the effect of salt and drought stresses on NAC2 transcription factor expression in Arabidopsis thaliana sprouts that were exposed to salt and drought stresses for 3 days. Different concentrations of NaCl (0, 45, 90, 180 mM) and PEG (0, 7.5, 15, 22.5%) were used for salt and drought stresses respectively. Gene expression was considered as GAPDH as the internal control. Our results showed that NAC2 transcription factor expression under NaCl treatments is more than PEG treatments in all samples. Also, the pattern of expression increased with increasing concentration of NaCl and PEG. It can be concluded that this transcription factor may be associated with salt and drought stresses tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Arabidopsis thaliana, NAC2 transcription factor, Salt and drought stresses, Gene expression