METHOD OF ENHANCING STRESS TOLERANCE OF MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS

A method is provided for producing a transformed plant of the family Poaceae. One or more genes selected from the group consisting of OTS1， OTS2 and ICE1 are introduced into the genome of the plant， resulting in transformed plants having enhanced tolerance to an abiotic stress compared to untransformed plants. The gene can be under the control of a drought inducible promoter， such as the Rab17 promoter. Examples of the abiotic stress are drought， heat， cold and salinity. The plant can be a cereal or grass， such as crops or forage grasses including wheat， barley， sorghum， maize， sugarcane， oats， rye， triticale and commercial fodder grass species. The invention also extends to a vector for transforming the plants and to transformed plants and plant parts.