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Molecular responses to drought stress in plants

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Biologia Plantarum

Abstract

Drought is a severe environmental constraint to plant productivity. Being a multidimensional stress, it triggers a wide variety of plant responses ranging from physiological, biochemical to molecular levels. One of the inevitable consequences of drought stress is an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in different cellular compartments, namely the chloroplasts and mitochondria. This enhanced ROS production is, however, kept under tight control by a versatile and cooperative antioxidant system that modulates intracellular ROS content and sets the redoxstatus of the cell. Furthermore, ROS production under stresses functions as an alarm signal that triggers defence or acclimation. Specific signal transduction pathways involve, e.g., H2O2 as a secondary messenger. ROS signalling under drought is linked to abscisic acid (ABA) and Ca2+ fluxes. At molecular levels, several drought-responsive genes, transcription factors, aquaporins, late embryogenesis abundant proteins, heat shock proteins, and dehydrins have been identified. This review discusses recent understanding on molecular responses and protective mechanisms of drought stress.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

abscisic acid

ALA:

5-aminolevulinic acid

AOX:

alternative oxidase

AREB:

ABA-responsive element binding

DREB:

dehydration responsive element binding

Hsps:

heat shock proteins

LEA:

late embryogenesis abundant

PGPRs:

plant growth promoting rhizobacteria

PS:

photosystem

ROS:

reactive oxygen species

Rubisco:

ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase

RWC:

relative water content

ZFP:

zinc finger protein

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 141004, Punjab, India

    G. Kaur & B. Asthir

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Correspondence to B. Asthir.

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Acknowledgement: We thanks Dr. Muhammad Farooq, the Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan for editing our review thoroughly.

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Kaur, G., Asthir, B. Molecular responses to drought stress in plants. Biol Plant 61, 201–209 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-016-0700-9

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