ABA-mediated response to drought stress in cvs. Italia vs. Autumn Royal. As modified by Catacchio et al. (2019). The ABA-responsive transcription factors (TF) belonging to AP2-EREB family: five ERF5 genes, DREB1A and DDF2 are down-regulated under WD in It, whereas, ERF, ABF2, MYB102, the homeobox-leucin zipper protein HB-12, the zing-finger protein STZ are up-regulated. ERFb is the only TF differentially expressed in both It and AR at WD. TF might regulate the expression of drought related for instance the down-regulation of desiccation protein PCC13-62, DRS1, MPK4, ERD7, HVA22Fand the up-regulation of RD22, RD26, XERICO, GEA6, ABI1. ABI1 might act in a negative feedback regulatory loop of ABA. Genes whose promoters contains ABRE or ABRE-related motifs are underlined. In parentheses it is indicated the number of genes.