Transcription factor-based genetic engineering for salinity tolerance in crops

Abstract

Salinity is one of the major environmental factors limiting productivity of all important crops. With an alarming increase of the world's population, the sustainable agriculture produce is needed to feed the growing population. The decrease in agricultural land due to industrialization/urbanization and climate change poses a threat to agriculture. The genetic engineering of crops can serve as a promising technique and can significantly contribute to addressing food security and also add economic value to the world's farming systems. The deployment of stress-responsive transcription factors for providing salinity tolerance to crops is an interesting area at the forefront of research. In the present chapter, we discuss the mechanism of regulation of important transcription factors, namely, dehydration-responsive element-binding factors, myeloblastosis oncogene, myelocytomatosis oncogene, NACs and WRKYs, and also provide an update of the transgenics developed and characterized using these TFs for enhanced salinity tolerance.