Abstract
It is generally acknowledged abiotic stress tolerance is induced in response to an environmental stimulus resulting in the upregulation of multiple stress genes. Stimulus perception governs the extent of upregulation of stress associated proteins. This upregulation dictates when a plant initiates acclimation and thus the extent of stress tolerance the plant acquires. Often cultivated crops do not perceive an environmental stress, such as an episodic frost, early enough to acclimate. As a result, cultivated crops are often lethally injured by an unseasonal -3 to -4 °C frost whereas if given sufficient time they can acclimate to withstand much lower temperatures (e.g. -9 to -12 °C). Drought tolerance is generally induced as a consequence of plants experiencing a wet-dry cycle. During the day, plants lose turgor due to a water shortage; however, during the night plants regain turgor due to the reduced evapo-transpiration rate. As a result of the cycle, drought associated genes are upregulated. In many cool season crops, leaf temperatures exceeding 30 °C induce the formation of heat shock proteins that protect the cell. Maximum frost and drought tolerance is attained after several weeks of acclimating conditions; in contrast, enhanced heat tolerance can be attained in hours.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Angadi, S. V., Cutforth, H. W., Miller, P. R., McConkey, B. C., Entz, M. H., Brandt, S. A., and Volkmar, K. M., 2000, Responses of three Brassica species to high temperature stress during reproductive growth, Can J Plant Sci, 80: 693-701.
Close, T. J., Kortt, A. A., and Chandler, P. M., 1989, A cDNA-based comparison of dehydration-induced proteins (dehydrins) in barley and com, Plant Mol Biol, 13:95-108.
Gaxiola, R. A., Li, J., Undurrago, S., Dan, L. M., Allen, G., Alper, S., and Fink, G. R., 2001, Drought and salt-tolerant plants result from overexpression of the AVP H+ pump, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 25: 11444-11449.
Gilmour, S. J., Zarka, D. G., Stockinger, E. J., Salazar, M. P., Houghton, J. M., and Thomashow, M. F., 1998, Low temperature regulation of the Arabidopsis CBF family of APZ transcriptional activators as an early step in cold-induced COR gene expression, Plant J, 16: 433-442.
Hall, A. E., 1992, Breeding for heat tolerance, Plant Breed Rev, 10: 129-168.
Horvath, D. P., McLarney, B. K., and Thomashow, M. F., 1993, Regulation of Arabidopsis thaliana L. (Heyn) cor78 in response to low temperature, Plant Physiol, 103(4): 1047-1053.
Jaglo, K. R., Kleffs, S., Amundsen, K. L., Zhang, X., Haake, V., Zhang, J. Z., Deits, T., and Thomashow, M. F., 2001, Components of the Arabidopsis C-Repeat/dehydration-responsive element binding factor cold-responsive pathway are conserved in Brassica napus and other plant species, Plant Physiol, 121: 910–917.
Joubes, J., Chevalier, D., Dudits, D., Heberle-Bors, E., Inze, D., Umeda, M., and Renaudi, J. P., 2000, CDK-related protein kinases in plants, Plant Mol Biol, 43: 607–620.
Kasuga, M., Liu, Q., Miura, S., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozaki, K., 1999, Improving plant drought, salt and freezing tolerance by gene transfer of a single stress-inducible transcription factor, Nature Biotech, 17:287–291.
Liu, Q., Kasuga, M., Sakuma, Y., Abe, H., Miura, S., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, and Shinozaki, K., 1998, Two transcriptional fectors, DREB1 and DREB2 with an EREBP/AP2DNA binding domain separate two cellular signal transduction pathways in drought and low-temperature-responsive gene expression, respectively in Arabidopsis, Plant Cell, 10: 1391–1406.
Luchi, S., Kobayashi, M., Taji, T., Naramoto, M., Sehi, M., Kato, T., Tabata, S., Kakubari, Y., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozabi, K., 2001, Regulation of drought tolerance by gene manipulation of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dehydrogenase, a key enzyme in abscisic acid biosynthesis in Arabidopsis, Plant J, 26:325–333.
McKersie, B.D., Chen, Y., deBeus, M., Bowley, S. R., Bowler, C, Inje, D., D'Halliun, K., and Botterman, J., 1993, Superoxide dismutase enhances tolerance of freezing stress in transgenic alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), Plant Physiol, 103: 1155–1163.
Murata, Y., Pei, Z-M., Mori, I., and Schroder, J., 2001, Abscisic acid activation of plasma membrane Ca2 channels in general cells requires cytosolic NAD(P)H and is differentially disrupted upstream and downstream of reactive oxygen species production in abil-1 as abi 2–1 protein phosphatase 2C mutants, Plant Cell, 13:2513–2523.
Paulsen, G.M., 1994, High temperature response of crop plants, in: Physiology aand Determination of Crop Yield, Boote, K. J., Sinclair, T. R., and Paulsen, G. M. ed., ASA, CSSA, SSSA, Madison, WI, pp. 365–389.
Reichheld, J-P., Vernoux, T., Lardon, F., vanMoutagu, M., and Inze, D., 1999, Specific checkpoints regulate plant cell cycle progression in responses to oxidative stress, Plant J, 17: 647–656.
Robertson, A. J., Ishikawa, M., Gusta, L. V., and MacKenzie, S. L., 1994, Abscisic acid-induced heat tolerance in bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss) cell cultures, Plant Physiol, 105: 823–830.
Stals, H., Casteels, P., vanMoutagu, M., and Inze, D., 2000, Regulation of cyclin-dependent kinases in Arabidopsis thaliana, Plant Mol Biol, 43: 583–593.
Vierling, E., 1991, The roles of heat shock proteins in plants, Ann Rev Plant Physiol and Plant Mol Biol, 42:579–620.
Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozaki, K., 1993, Characterization of the expression of a desiccation-responsive rd29 gene of the Arabidopsis thaliana and analysis of its promotor in transgenic plants, Mol Gen Genet, 236(2–3): 331–340.
Zhang, H-X., and Blumwald, E., 2001, Transgenic salt-tolerant tomato plants accumulate salt in foliage but not in fruit, Nature Biotech, 19: 765–768.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gusta, L.V. et al. (2002). Genetic Engineering of Cultivated Plants for Enhanced Abiotic Stress Tolerance. In: Li, P.H., Palva, E.T. (eds) Plant Cold Hardiness. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0711-6_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0711-6_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5205-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0711-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive