Transgenic plants for dry and saline environments

Abstract

In the past decade, the scientific community has witnessed a major leap in our understanding about how plant perceives and respond to abiotic stresses. Various candidates participating in this coordinated and orchestrated relays have been identified and their molecular mechanisms of operation have also been worked out. This analysis has clearly established a complex network of cellular machinery operative in plants under such conditions. Tools of functional genomics have been utilized to decipher the contributions of several of these individual components towards the complex stress response. Some of these studies have also been extended beyond model plants, and crop systems such as rice have been utilized to document the usefulness of some of these strategies towards genetic modifications of crop plants which are better adapted towards unfavorable environmental conditions. It is heartening to see the extension of few efforts beyond laboratory to field level testing. Indeed, a few of selected candidate genes have also passed these field level tests. However, it is also true that drought/salinity tolerant transgenic crop plants are yet away from the reach of farmers. A conscious deliberate and strategic action plan along with the right choice of battery of genes is required to achieve this important goal © 2007 Springer.