Saussurea involucrata Kar. et Kir. is a hardy dicotyledonous plant capable of tolerating severe abiotic stress conditions. In a previous study, we created a cDNA library to determine what factors are associated with the cold acclimation response in S. involucrata. From this, a full-length cDNA of a dehydrin-like gene (SiDhn2) was obtained by RT-PCR. The SiDhn2 gene was characterized in this study. The full-length SiDhn2 cDNA comprised 693 bp containing an open reading frame of 345 bp specifying a protein of 115 amino acids. An alignment of the deduced amino acid sequence showed that SiDhn2 shared 55 % identity with two Brassica dehydrins. Agrobacterium tumefaciens was used to transform RD29A:SiDhn2 and 35S:SiDhn2 constructs into tobacco to investigate the germination and resistance to freezing and drought stress of transgenic plants. The RD29A:SiDhn2 transgenic plants showed greater resistance to freezing and drought stress than 35S:SiDhn2 transgenic plants or the wild-type. This study demonstrates that SiDhn2 confers cold hardiness and drought resistance, and may be a candidate resistance gene for genetic improvement of crops to increase stress resistance.