Compositions, organisms, systems, and methods for altering cold, drought, and salt tolerance in plants

A method of producing sugarcane having improved abiotic stress tolerance over corresponding wild-type plants, the method comprising:

• contacting a sugarcane plant cell with a nucleic acid under conditions that permit incorporation of at least a portion of the nucleic acid into the host genome;
• and
• regenerating a plant from the contacted plant cell,
• wherein the plant comprises the incorporated nucleic acid, and
• wherein the incorporated nucleic acid comprises an expression control sequence operable in the host, and an expressible nucleic acid sequence encoding an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 2, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:10 operably linked to the expression control sequence.

An expression cassette or expression vector for improving abiotic stress tolerance in a sugarcane plant, the expression cassette or expression vector comprising, in a 5′ to 3′ direction:

• an expression control sequence operable in the sugarcane host plant;
• a nucleic acid sequence that encodes an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 2, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:10;
• and
• a terminator operable in in the sugarcane host plant.

A microorganism for improving abiotic stress tolerance in a sugarcane plant, the microorganism comprising:

• an expression cassette or expression vector comprising, in a 5′ to 3′ direction:
• an expression control sequence operable in the sugarcane host plant;
• a nucleic acid sequence that encodes an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 2, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:10;
• and
• a terminator operable in in the sugarcane host plant.