Goal of this project is the identification of novel abiotic stress regulators that can be applied for generating abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic plants. The project has an application-oriented objective and will be carried out in the model plantArabidopsis thaliana. The identified regulators will be tested in the crop plant rice (Oryza sativa). The successful transfer from Arabidopsis to rice will open up the possibility to generate other stress tolerant crops. Furthermore, abiotic stress regulators may be used for selecting stress tolerant genotypes through molecular breeding. The proposed project will contribute significantly to a more sustainable agricultural system through increase of yield and yield stability. The project is a true Franco-German-Spanish private/public partnership in plant genomics and plant biotechnology. Four academic and one industrial partner will tightly collaborate to achieve a common goal. The academic partners are The approach is interdisciplinary and involves methods of informatics (Z), bioinformatics (BS), molecular biology (BI, V) and high throughput phenotypic screenings (BASF).