Drought-induced leaf dehydration in soybean transgenic and WT lines.

(A) Drought stress was induced by reducing irrigation to 40% of the daily normal water supply. Leaf water potential was measured by using a Scholander pump. The leaf ψ_w of stressed wild-type plants declined to a maximum stress of −2.0 MPa, whereas the leaf ψ_w of transgenic plants did not decrease below −1.5 MPa. The bars represent confidence intervals (p≤0.05, n = 4). (B) Leaves were photographed on day 19 of the experiment, when 35S::BiP-4 and 35S::BiP-2 leaves displayed ψw = −0.6 MPa, whereas WT leaves presented a ψw = −1.0 MPa.