Based on our previous study,CkLEA4,a Caragana korshinskii LEA gene induced by dehydration,salt and ABA treatments,was transferred into Arabidopsis. The transgene expression of eight T₃ transgenic plants was detected by quantitative realtime PCR and three independent overexpression lines with different transgene expression level were selected for further analysis.For the germination assays,CkLEA4 overexpression lines germinated more quickly than that of wildtype on medium containing different concentrations of NaCl,mannitol or ABA.The germination rate of wildtype and CkLEA4 overexpression lines were all decreased with the increased concentrations of NaCl,mannitol or ABA,while the germination rate of wildtype decreased more dramatically than that of the overexpression lines.The cotyledon greening rates of CkLEA4 overexpression lines were also higher than those of wildtype under 200 mmol/L NaCl,400 mmol/L mannitol or low concentrations of ABA.Altogether,our results suggested that CkLEA4 improved Arabidopsis tolerance to salt,ABA and osmotic stress during seed germination stage.