Research on plant abiotic stress responses in the post‐genome era: past, present and future

Abstract

SUMMARYUnderstanding abiotic stress responses in plants is an important and challenging topic in plant research. Physiological and molecular biological analyses have allowed us to draw a picture of abiotic stress responses in various plants, and determination of the Arabidopsis genome sequence has had a great impact on this research field. The availability of the complete genome sequence has facilitated access to essential information for all genes, e.g. gene products and their function, transcript levels, putative cis-regulatory elements, and alternative splicing patterns. These data have been obtained from comprehensive transcriptome analyses and studies using full-length cDNA collections and T-DNA-or transposon-tagged mutant lines, which were also enhanced by genome sequence information. Moreover, studies on novel regulatory mechanisms involving use of small RNA molecules, chromatin modulation and genomic DNA modification have enabled us to recognize that plants have evolved complicated and sophisticated systems in response to complex abiotic stresses. Integrated data obtained with various 'omics' approaches have provided a more comprehensive picture of abiotic stress responses. In addition, research on stress responses in various plant species other than Arabidopsis has increased our knowledge regarding the mechanisms of plant stress tolerance in nature. Based on this progress, improvements in crop stress tolerance have been attempted by means of gene transfer and marker-assisted breeding. In this review, we summarize recent progress in abiotic stress studies, especially in the post-genomic era, and offer new perspectives on research directions for the next decade.

Alginate oligosaccharides enhanced Triticum aestivum L. tolerance to drought stress

“…It suggested that AOS might involve in ABA signaling pathway by stimulating ABA synthesis to induce expression of drought resistance genes and to improve capacity of drought resistance. In higher plants, P5CS gene, which is one of the key genes for proline synthesis from glutamate and ornithine, could be induced and up-regulated by drought stress [35,36]. Our results showed that P5CS in wheat leaves was induced and up-regulated by exogenous AOS under drought condition.…”

Metabolic efficiency underpins performance trade-offs in growth of Arabidopsis thaliana

“…Although only a fraction of the metabolic phenotype can be measured, due to the high connectivity in metabolic networks 34 , the profiles carry information about other unmeasured traits 41 . Regression-based analyses have shown that metabolite and enzyme activity profiles provide an integrative metabolic phenotype that is predictive of biomass 33,34,42,43 , heterosis 44 , and, to a lesser extent, abiotic stress tolerance in plants 45 .…”

SUCROSE NONFERMENTING1-RELATED PROTEIN KINASE2.6, an Ortholog of OPEN STOMATA1, Is a Negative Regulator of Strawberry Fruit Development and Ripening

“…SUCROSE NONFERMENTING1-RELATED PROTEIN KINASES2 (SnRK2s) are a family of plant-specific protein kinases implicated in stress and abscisic acid (ABA) signaling (Yoshida et al, 2002;Boudsocq et al, 2004;Kobayashi et al, 2005;Umezawa et al, 2004;Fujii et al, 2007;Shukla and Mattoo, 2008;Fujita et al, 2009;Hirayama et al, 2010;Kulik et al, Figure 1. Phylogenetic analysis of SnRK2.6 proteins.…”