in accordance with the teachings of the present application in another embodiment of the present invention the rob5 gene sequence and parts complements and homologues thereof are used to modify plant stress responses and or growth potential by the transformation of plant cells with a plant transformation vector comprising a rob5 coding region for example a region of said nucleic acid illustrated in fig1 under the control of a heterologous or native homologous promoter in another embodiment of the present invention one or more portions of at least 10 amino acids of the protein encoded by the nucleic acid sequence shown in seq id no 1 are expressed in a host plant said expression causing the alteration of plant stress responses and or growth potential in another embodiment of the present invention the nucleic acid sequence shown in seq id no 1 or parts thereof or homologues thereof is used to modify plant stress responses and or growth potential by the transformation of plant cells with a plant transformation vector comprising a coding region of said polynucleotide under the control of the promoter normally associated with the rob5 gene sequences in alternative embodiments the rob5 gene or a derivative thereof may be inserted into a construct under the control of a constitutive promoter such that.