Study of MYB gene expression under drought stress in some bread wheat cultivars

Drought stress is one of the most important factors reducing wheat quality and quantity. In the past years research on stress, especially drought stress, has focused on plant resistance genes and their mechanism of action. This research has revealed that a majority of the genes that have important roles in biotic and abiotic stress resistence encode transcription factors. In this survey, the level of expression of the TaMYB73 gene, a gene whose product is involved in transcription in several wheat cultivars (cultivars Chamran2, Afghani calk, Sistan, Arg and Ofogh) was studied under five draught conditions (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 drought percent) by real-time PCR. Catalase and glycol peroxidase enzyme levels were also measured in drought conditions. The results show that TaMYB73 gene expression levels and catalase and glycol peroxidase enzyme activity in the Arg cultivar was higher than in the other cultivars. Arg may thus be considered as resistant cultivar.