ISSN 2736-1756
Advanced Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 2002
Available online at http://internationalscholarsjournals.org/journal/ajmr
© 2002 International Scholars Journals
Physiological and molecular insights into drought tolerance
Sagadevan G Mundree *, Bienyameen Baker, Shaheen Mowla, Shaun Peters, Saberi Marais, Clare Vander Willigen, Kershini Govender, Alice Maredza, Samson Muyanga, Jill M Farrant and Jennifer A Thomson
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701 South Africa
Accepted 8 November 2002
Abstract
Water is a major limiting factor in world agriculture. In general, most crop plants are highly sensitive to even a mild dehydration stress. There are however, a few genera of plants unique to Southern Africa, called “resurrection plants” which can tolerate extreme water loss or desiccation. We have used Xerophyta viscosa, a representative of the monocotyledonous resurrection plants to isolate genes that are associated with osmotic stress tolerance. Several genes that are differentially expressed, and that confer functional sufficiency to osmotically-stressed Escherichia coli are being studied at the molecular and biochemical levels. In this review, we use this as a basis to discuss the physiological and molecular insights into drought tolerance.
Key words: Drought stress, reactive oxygen species, osmoprotectants, abscisic acid, transcription factors.