The invention relates to the technical field of
genetic engineering breeding, and discloses application of a
protein ZmCHR17 or an expression substance for regulating and controlling a
protein coding
gene or a substance for regulating and controlling the activity or content of the
protein in regulating and controlling the
drought resistance of plants, the
amino acid sequence of the protein is as shown in SEQ ID No.1, and the
nucleotide sequence of the coding protein is as shown in SEQ ID No.2. After the ZmCHR17
gene is knocked out, the
drought resistance of a
mutant plant is improved compared with that of a wild
plant under the drought treatment condition, and it is verified that the ZmCHR17 protein has the negative regulation function on the
drought resistance of the
plant. The invention also discloses a method for improving the drought resistance of plants, which comprises the step of knocking out the coding
gene of the ZmCHR17 protein in a
receptor plant to obtain a target plant with the drought resistance higher than that of the
receptor plant. Compared with a traditional breeding mode, the method for regulating and controlling the drought resistance of the plants has the advantages that the breeding time is short, the purposiveness is high, the drought resistance breeding period is remarkably shortened, and the
crop stress resistance breeding efficiency is improved; a gene editing homozygous strain with improved drought resistance and salt tolerance is obtained by adopting a
gene knockout technology, and gene resources are provided for cultivating and improving new varieties of stress-resistant plants; and a theoretical basis is provided for clarification of a
molecular mechanism of the ZmCHR17 protein in plant drought resistance.