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Background  Family members of sucrose non-fermenting 1-related kinase 2 (SnRK2), being plant-specific serine/threonine protein kinases, constitute the central core of abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and ABA-independent signaling pathways, and are key regulators of abiotic stress adaptation in plants. We report here the functional characterization of  SAPK9  gene, one of the 10 SnRK2s of rice, through developing  gain-of-function  and  loss-of-function  phenotypes by transgenesis.    Results  The gene expression profiling revealed that the abundance of single gene-derived  SAPK9  transcript was significantly higher in drought-tolerant rice genotypes than the drought-sensitive ones, and its expression was comparatively greater in reproductive stage than the vegetative stage. The highest expression of  SAPK9  gene in drought-tolerant  Oryza rufipogon  prompted us to clone and characterise the CDS of this allele in details. The  SAPK9  transcript expression was found to be highest in leaf and upregulated during drought stress and ABA treatment.  In silico  homology modelling of SAPK9 with  Arabidopsis  OST1 protein showed the bilobal kinase fold structure of SAPK9, which upon bacterial expression was able to phosphorylate itself, histone III and OsbZIP23 as substrates in vitro. Transgenic overexpression (OE) of  SAPK9  CDS from  O. rufipogon  in a drought-sensitive  indica  rice genotype exhibited significantly improved drought tolerance in comparison to transgenic silencing (RNAi) lines and non-transgenic (NT) plants. In contrast to RNAi and NT plants, the enhanced drought tolerance of OE lines was concurrently supported by the upgraded physiological indices with respect to water retention capacity, soluble sugar and proline content, stomatal closure, membrane stability, and cellular detoxification. Upregulated transcript expressions of six ABA-dependent stress-responsive genes and increased sensitivity to exogenous ABA of OE lines indicate that the SAPK9 is a positive regulator of ABA-mediated stress signaling pathways in rice. The yield-related traits of OE lines were augmented significantly, which resulted from the highest percentage of fertile pollens in OE lines when compared with RNAi and NT plants.    Conclusion  The present study establishes the functional role of SAPK9 as transactivating kinase and potential transcriptional activator in drought stress adaptation of rice plant. The  SAPK9  gene has potential usefulness in transgenic breeding for improving drought tolerance and grain yield in crop plants.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0845-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

bmc plant biology

The sucrose non-fermenting 1-related kinase 2 gene SAPK9 improves drought tolerance and grain yield in rice by modulating cellular osmotic potential, stomatal closure and stress-responsive gene expression