Nucleotide sequences and corresponding polypeptides conferring modulated growth rate and biomass in plants grown in saline conditions

A plant cell transformed with a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid, wherein the promoter and the nucleic acid are heterologous to each other, wherein said nucleic acid comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a nucleotide sequence that encodes a protein comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% amino acid sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:123;
• (b) a nucleotide sequence that encodes a protein that comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:123;
• (c) a nucleotide sequence comprising the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:122 and encoding the protein having the amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:
• 123;
• and
• (d) a nucleotide sequence comprising a nucleotide sequence having at least 95% nucleotide sequence identity to the nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:122 and encoding a protein having the activity of SEQ ID NO:
• 123;
• and wherein a transformed plant produced from said transformed plant cell has increased salt tolerance as compared to a control plant of the same species that does not comprise said nucleic acid and grown under identical conditions.