The present invention relates to a transgenic plant comprising one or more plant cells transformed with exogenous nucleic acid encoding a Dunaliella salt-inducible or salt-responsive protein selected from the group consisting of elongation initiation factor 3 (eIF3), NADPH dependent quinone reductase (QOR), aldo-keto reductase (AKR), bifunctional aspartate kinase-homoserine reductase (AK-HSD) and mitochondrial import membrane translocase subunit (TIM9), or a fragment, homolog or variant thereof. The transgenic plant has increased tolerance to salt as compared to a corresponding non-transgenic plant. The present invention further relates to nucleic acids, vectors and constructs encoding the Dunaliella salt-inducible or salt-responsive proteins, and to a method of producing a transgenic plant having an increased tolerance to salt, a method of modifying a plant capacity to survive salt shock, and a method of modifying plant recovery after exposure to salt stress, by introducing the nucleic acids, constructs and/or vectors into one or more cells of the plant.