Biotechnology approaches to engineering drought tolerant crop

Abstract

In the last decade, the sequencing of several plant genomes has greatly amplified the number of genes being evaluated for their ability to confer stress tolerance. Over 50 genes have been reported to confer drought tolerance when overexpressed and the number of field trials for transgenic drought tolerant crops is on the rise. Nevertheless, no transgenic drought tolerant crop has yet been commercialized. In this chapter, we examine the approaches being taken by academic labs and the agricultural biotechnology industry to identify and evaluate candidate genes. We address criteria used for selecting candidate genes, developing high-throughput phenotyping platforms and applying drought stress in the lab. In addition, we highlight promising genes that are at more advanced stages of evaluation © 2007 Springer.