Chapter 13 - Engineering transcription factors: An emerging strategy for developing abiotic stress-tolerant crops

Abstract

Various strategies and methods have been recruited by scientists to overcome environmental stresses in plants. Classical plant breeders concluded that it would be beneficial to select plants based on some high heritable traits such as phenotypic, physiological, biochemical, and genetic markers, which indirectly lead to the development of tolerant genotypes. Despite the successes of conventional breeding methods, limitations led to the development of novel molecular methods such as transformation. In this regard, stress tolerance-inducing protein coding genes (e.g., osmoprotectants, detoxifying enzymes, late embryogenesis abundant protein) and regulatory genes like transcription factors were introduced to plants in order to create tolerant transgenic plants. Most of the transcription factors from AP2/EREBP, MYB, WRKY, NAC, and bZIP families are significantly involved in tolerance to various abiotic stresses. Based on these findings, efforts were made to apply some transcription factor genes to improve stress tolerance in plants. On the other hand, the complexity of stress tolerance regulatory networks required new analysis and engineering techniques called synthetic biology. It seems that designing and introducing genetic circuits with the ability to induce stress tolerance in plant systems is an emerging field in which transcription factors are the most important elements. Recent studies indicate that transcription factors engineering in combination with systems biology and synthetic biology could be very promising to develop stress tolerance in plants.