Chapter 8 - Regulation of inducible promoters during salinity stress in plants

Abstract

Promoters are crucial regulators of gene expression due to the presence of important cis-acting elements. Though this region does not encode any protein, it is important in the context that promoters by virtue of specific cis-acting elements invite crucial transcription factors which bind to the sequences and induce associated gene expression during abiotic stress. Salinity is the most prevalent type of abiotic stress which causes large-scale crop losses globally. Salt stress induces a large subset of osmotic stress-responsive genes which crucially maintain cellular homeostasis and regulate ion transport. This chapter concisely focuses on the reported roles of promoters in upregulating salt-responsive genes in halophytes and also elaborates on the regulatory functions of promoters in mediating ion transport in stressed glycophytes. The discussion would briefly bring forward the importance of promoters in regulating the expression of salt-inducible genes in the context of modern-day developments in crop biotechnology.