Abstract
Proline is an important imino acid that accumulates in plants in response to different environmental constraints including water-limited conditions. The literature shows a positive association between proline accumulation and drought tolerance in plants. However, some recent findings highlighted that induction of drought tolerance in plants is not only due to proline accumulation and turnover, but also due to metabolism of proline that is responsible for maintaining plant growth during drought conditions. Plants mutant for enzymes involved in the biosynthesis Δ1-pyrroli [pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase 1 (P5CS1)] and catabolism [proline dehydrogenase 1 (ProDH1)] of proline exhibited significant growth reduction under drought conditions. Plants exposed to drought show accumulation of proline that in turn maintains the redox status. A variety of cellular processes mediate the biosynthesis and catabolism of proline. Presently, only a few mechanisms dealing with this imino acid are fully elucidated. For instance, highly abscisic acid (ABA)-induced protein phosphatase 2Cs differentially influenced the endogenous levels of PDH1 and P5CS1 proteins apart from the same increase in the cellular levels of proline. Proline biosynthetic (P5CS1) and catabolic (PDH1) genes are regulated via some posttranslational changes that are not fully known. In this chapter, we have discussed proline metabolism in plants under limited water regimes. We have also provided the details of proline association with other key physiochemical attributes under water deficit conditions.
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