A transgenic plant transformed by a Cell Cycle Stress-Related Protein (CCSRP) coding nucleic acid, wherein expression of the nucleic acid sequence in the plant results in increased tolerance to environmental stress as compared to a wild type variety of the plant. Also provided are agricultural products, including seeds, produced by the transgenic plants. Also provided are isolated CCSRPs, and isolated nucleic acid coding CCSRPs, and vectors and host cells containing the latter.