Abiotic stress such as drought stress seriously destabilizes crop production. E3 ubiquitin ligase genes play important role in the development and responses to abiotic stresses. In the present research, TaAIRP2-1B, a gene encoding for a RING finger (really interesting new gene) E3 ubiquitin ligase, was cloned from common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). To analyze the transcriptional profiles of TaAIRP2-1B, the tissues at heading stage were subjected for RNA extraction, followed by qRT-PCR analysis. The TaAIRP2-1B gene expressed in various tissues, and abundance on expression was detected in the aboveground tissues in relative to that of the roots. This gene was found to be expressed with highest in the peduncle internode and lowest in the 30-60 cm root. Moreover, the expression of TaAIRP2-1B was inducible upon ABA, PEG or cold treatments. We further analyzed overexpressing lines carrying TaAIRP2-1B in Arabidopsis by treated with ABA or drought stress. The germination rate of transgenic Arabidopsis to wild type (WT) was significantly decreased at 0.4 μΜ ABA treatment. ABA treatment was observed with inhibition on root growth. The transgenic lines exhibited significantly higher inhibition degree than WT, indicating that TaAIRP2-1B enhanced the sensitivity of Arabidopsis to ABA during seedlings stage. After drought stress treatment, leaf wilting and yellowing of the transgenic lines were significantly lower than WT, and the water retention rates of transgenic L1, L2 and WT were 73.16%, 73.7% and 69.04%, respectively. These results showed that TaAIRP2-1B enhanced the drought resistance of Arabidopsis, and the water retention rates of transgenic Arabidopsis were significantly higher than that of WT. Therefore, these results suggested an involvement of wheat gene TaAIRP2-1B in response to abiotic stress and may positively regulate the drought resistance through an ABA-dependent pathway.