Native Plants to Arid Areas: A Genetic Reservoir for Drought-Tolerant Crops

Abstract

Droughts are common in arid areas. These cause important losses in crop production, while the increasing population demands more food and goods. Cultivars able to produce under drought conditions are required to avoid or reduce production losses. Plants have evolved different mechanisms to face drought, and many genes have been already discovered in model and cultivated plants that are involved in this trait. Some of these genes have been successfully transformed into cultivated plants for drought tolerance. Plants native to arid lands may possess variants of drought tolerance mechanisms as compared to mesophytic or model plants. Also, different drought-related genes can be revealed. Studies using high-throughput and bioinformatic tools may allow to discover new genes and give new insights on the mechanisms involved in drought tolerance. However, still scarce studies in plants native to arid lands show that there are many drought-related genes that have not been already characterized and potentially they may be novel genes. These novel genes may be used to improve crops for drought tolerance. Therefore, more physiological, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies are needed on plants native to the deserts. protein rd22, pectinesterase-2, LEA protein, and POD. Moreover, 74 DEGs were commonly upregulated in leaf tissues and 16 were downregulated. The induced genes included pectinesterase-2, non-specific lipid-transfer protein, delta-1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase, and ras-related protein rabc2a [90].

Identification of Candidate Genes Regulating Drought Tolerance in Pearl Millet

“…Once ABA binds to the ABI protein, the phosphate activity gets blocked by auto-phosphorylation and activation of OST1, a serine-threonine kinase in open stomata. OST1 and CDPK activate the ABA-responsive element-binding proteins (ABFs/AREBPs) and SLAC, respectively, under stress conditions [88]. GO annotation indicated that almost 57% of genes were involved in drought-related responses, of which ABA catabolic process, protein serine/threonine phosphatase complex, inositol 3-alpha-galactosyltransferase activity, and GTPase-binding activity were highly enriched.…”

Dendrochronology in Namibia: A Review

“…Arid to semiarid areas occupy at least 44% of the world land and these are responsible for nearly 38% of the global population [42][43][44]. These regions are climatically stressed by the limited rainfall, high temperatures and long dry seasons [45].…”