When exposed to drought stress many plants reprogram their gene expression to activate adaptive biochemical and physiological responses for survival. However, most of the well-studied adaptive responses are common between drought-sensitive and drought-tolerant species, making it difficult to identify the key mechanisms underpinning successful drought tolerance in crops. We developed a sorghum experimental system that compares between drought-sensitive (ICSB338) and enhanced drought-tolerant (SA1441) varieties. We show that sorghum activates a swift and robust stomatal shutdown to preserve leaf water content when water stress has been sensed. Water uptake is enhanced via increasing root cell water potential through the rapid biosynthesis of predominantly glycine betaine and an increased root-to-shoot ratio to explore more soil volume for water. in addition to stomatal responses, there is a prompt accumulation of proline in leaves and effective protection of chlorophyll during periods of water limitation. Root and stomatal functions rapidly recover from water limitation (within 24 h of re-watering) in the drought-tolerant variety, but recovery is impaired in the drought-sensitive sorghum variety. Analysis of the root proteome revealed complex protein networks that possibly underpin sorghum responses to water limitation. common and unique protein changes between the two sorghum varieties provide new targets for future use in investigating sorghum drought tolerance. Drought stress is a major barrier to agricultural productivity 1 , primarily causing damaging water deficits in plant cells. Drought-induced osmotic stress triggers loss of cell turgor, which affects the rate of cell expansion and overall cell size, ultimately restricting plant growth and development 2. In sub-Saharan Africa, drought is often associated with very high temperatures, the combination of which severely limits crop productivity 1 , particularly in rain-fed agricultural systems. Several climatic models predict increases in surface temperatures and drought episodes by the year 2050 3 , further threatening global food security 4. Therefore, it is important to understand plant adaptive responses to drought in order to improve breeding for drought tolerant crops 5. Plants respond to the effects of drought stress through a complex network of mechanisms aimed at sustaining cellular metabolism under the prevailing conditions. The mechanisms of drought avoidance, escape and tolerance in a variety of plant species have been extensively reviewed 2,6-8. While drought escape is important in desert ephemerals that rapidly complete their life cycles before the onset of water deficits 2 , drought avoidance and tolerance are significant response mechanisms in many other plant species. For instance, plants can avoid drought by conserving water through various anatomical features. These include an extensive root system, a thick waxy cuticle, and reduced leaf surface area attained through leaf rolling, folding or shedding. In addition, changes in stomatal number,...

Sorghum bicolor, a drought tolerant cereal crop, is not only an important food source in the semi arid/arid regions but also a potential model for studying and gaining a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of drought and salt stress tolerance in cereals. In this study, seeds of a sweet sorghum variety, MN1618, were planted and grown on solid MS growth medium with or without 100 mM NaCl. Heat shock protein expression immunoblotting assays demonstrated that this salt treatment induced stress within natural physiological parameters for our experimental material. 2D PAGE in combination with MS/MS proteomics techniques were used to separate, visualise and identify salinity stress responsive proteins in young sorghum leaves. Out of 281 Coomassie stainable spots, 118 showed statistically significant responses (p<0.05) to salt stress treatments. Of the 118 spots, 79 were selected for tandem mass spectrometric identification, owing to their good resolution and abundance levels, and of these, 55 were positively identified. Identified proteins were divided into six functional categories including both known and novel/putative stress responsive proteins. Molecular and physiological functions of some of our proteins of interest are currently under investigation via bioinformatic and molecular biology approaches.

Drought stress triggers remarkable physiological changes and growth impediments, which significantly diminish plant biomass and crop yield. However, certain plant species show notable resilience, maintaining nearly normal yields under severe water deficits. For example, sorghum is a naturally drought-tolerant crop, which is ideal for studying plant adaptive responses to drought. Here we used sorbitol treatments to simulate drought-induced osmotic stress in sorghum cell suspension cultures and analysed fractions enriched for extracellular matrix proteins using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification technology. Sorbitol induced an overall increase in protein secretion, with putative redox proteins, proteases, and glycosyl hydrolases featuring prominently among the responsive proteins. Gene expression analysis of selected candidates revealed regulation at the transcriptional level. There was a notable differential gene expression between drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive sorghum varieties for some of the candidates. This study shows that protein secretion is a major component of the sorghum response to osmotic stress. Additionally, our data provide candidate genes, which may have putative functions in sorghum drought tolerance, and offer a pool of genes that could be developed as potential biomarkers for rapid identification of drought tolerant lines in plant breeding programs.

Worldwide, crop productivity is drastically reduced by drought and salinity stresses. In order to develop food crops with increased productivity in marginal areas, it is important to first understand the nature of plant stress response mechanisms. In the past decade, proteomics tools have been extensively used in the study of plants' proteome responses under experimental conditions mimicking drought and salinity stresses. A lot of proteomic data have been generated using different experimental designs. However, the precise roles of these proteins in stress tolerance are yet to be elucidated. This review summarises the applications of proteomics in understanding the complex nature of drought and salinity stress effects on plants, particularly cereals and also highlights the usefulness of sorghum as the next logical model crop for use in understanding drought and salinity tolerance in cereals. With the vast amount of proteomic data that have been generated to date, a call for integrated efforts across the agricultural, biotechnology, and molecular biology sectors is also highlighted in an effort to translate proteomics data into increased food productivity for the world's growing population.

Sorghum is a cereal crop with key agronomic traits of drought and heat stress tolerance, making it an ideal food and industrial commodity for hotter and more arid climates. These stress tolerances also present a useful scientific resource for studying the molecular basis for environmental resilience. Here we provide an extensive review of current transcriptome and proteome works conducted with laboratory, greenhouse, or field-grown sorghum plants exposed to drought, osmotic stress, or treated with the drought stress-regulatory phytohormone, abscisic acid. Large datasets from these studies reveal changes in gene/protein expression across diverse signaling and metabolic pathways. Together, the emerging patterns from these datasets reveal that the overall functional classes of stress-responsive genes/proteins within sorghum are similar to those observed in equivalent studies of other drought-sensitive model species. This highlights a monumental challenge of distinguishing key regulatory genes/proteins, with a primary role in sorghum adaptation to drought, from genes/proteins that change in expression because of stress. Finally, we discuss possible options for taking the research forward. Successful exploitation of sorghum research for implementation in other crops may be critical in establishing climate-resilient agriculture for future food security.