AKNOWLEDGMENTSA special acknowledgment to Prof. Tsai Siu Mui, whose enthusiasm, advisory, innovative character, brilliancy and strength has encouraged me to go through all the steps of this project.A friend, a person willing to talk to you anytime… Much more to say, but let's keep it humble as she is! Thank you.My gratitude to Prof. Paul Gepts for his valorous advice and encouragement during all this period, especially for the wonderful opportunity that I had while working at UC-Davis, in California.To Prof. Beatriz Madalena Januzzi Mendes for all support during the first year.My special thank you to Gustavo Henrique Recchia and Fernanda Cassieri. They were always outstanding, helping in every single experiment from the very beginning. Nós sempre estávamos meio 'perdidos' com tantas coisas a serem feitas!!!! And not only speaking of science, they are great friends that gave me motivation to go ahead on all the steps to be taken during these years. I really couldn't miss this space to describe how much I am thankful to you guys.A very special acknowledgment to Jorge Carlos Berny and Viviana Medina, my California science and happy hour mates. I can't tell how much I've learned from you and how much fun we've been having together. From the LICOR afternoons in the hot Davis fields to the labeling lab nights…guys, thank you so much for being part of this thesis and my life.Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing! Takatakatakataka! I will always be visiting around, you know that for sure.The financial support of FAPESP scholarship (process 2011-12.484-7) and from the Science Without Borders program from CNPq (process 249992/2013-2) were essential and without them this work would not have been accomplished. I extend this acknowledgment to CAPES,
USDA, BeanCAP and California Bean Advisory BoardThanks to all BIOMOL/CENA lab mates: Acacio, Aline, Andressa, Bia, Caio, Carol, Clóvis, Danielle, Dennis, Fabi, Felipe, Fernanda Nakamura, Jonathas, Juliane, Leandro, Lucas Mendes, Lucas Palma, Ludmila, Maju, Marília, Marina, Nayara, Rosineide.Thanks to all California lab mates: Amanda, Andrea, Antonia, Arthur, Erin, Kay, Jamily, Karla, Laura, Manisha, Ninh, Paige, Regina, Sarah Dohle, Saarah Kuzay, Tamara, Travis, Vanessa. I had such a nice time and learned a lot from you guys. Thanks to all the friends from California. Baris and Dawit, thanks for all the laughing and happy moments. Raul, Stefano, Ziv, Angel, Jaime, Andrés, Syed… I will never forget the precious dinners and trips we had together has housemates. A special thank you to StephanieTrasher for her hospitality, integrity and friendship. I appreciate every moment spent in California with all of you. Common bean is a major dietary component in several countries, but its productivity is negatively affected by abiotic stresses. Dissecting candidate genes involved in abiotic stress tolerance is a paramount step toward the improvement of common bean performance under such constraints. Thereby, this thesis presents a systematic analysis of the DEHYDRATION RESPONSIVE ELEMENT-BINDING (DREB) gene ...