Abstract
Crop yield improvement is necessary to keep pace with increasing demand for food. Due to climatic variability, the incidence of drought stress at crop growth stages is becoming a major hindering factor to yield improvement. New techniques are required to increase drought tolerance along with improved yield. Genetic modification for increasing drought tolerance is highly desirable, and genetic engineering for drought tolerance requires the expression of certain stress-related genes. Genes have been identified which confer drought tolerance and improve plant growth and survival in transgenic wheat. However, less research has been conducted for the development of transgenic wheat as compared to rice, maize, and other staple food. Furthermore, enhanced tolerance to drought without any yield penalty is a major task of genetic engineering. In this review, we have focused on the progress in the development of transgenic wheat cultivars for improving drought tolerance and discussed the physiological mechanisms and testing of their tolerance in response to inserted genes under control or field conditions.
Highlights
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereal and staple food crops worldwide, mainly grown in semiarid and arid regions of the world where water scarcity is causing severe yield losses [1]
Transgenic wheat over-expressing HVA1 gene, which is a group-3 Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) protein, indicated the potential of the HVA1 gene to enhance the tolerance to water deficit stress [48,49]
Higher relative water content was observed in lines with higher expression of the HVA1 gene which shows the potential of the HVA1 gene to confer drought tolerance
Summary
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereal and staple food crops worldwide, mainly grown in semiarid and arid regions of the world where water scarcity is causing severe yield losses [1]. Improving the tolerance of wheat to drought stress through adaptive strategies is important to ensure food security To achieve this goal without increasing the area of cultivated land, which is not available, emphasis must be concentrated on key traits related to plant productivity and adaptation to environmental challenges. Genetic improvement and developing drought-tolerant wheat cultivars is critically important and a main aim for wheat breeders [7]. Numerous genes have been isolated from various plants and inserted in transgenic wheat to induce stress resistance These genes could be classified into two groups. The genes in the second group are the transcription factors and signaling molecules [19] These osmoprotectants are the favorite targets for genetic engineering and many crops are genetically engineered using osmoprotectants, like glycine betaine, mannitol, and trehalose to increase tolerance by protecting important macromolecules. Higher tolerance is by osmotic adjustment and chaperone-like activity in stabilizing membrane and protein and detoxification by scavenging reactive oxygen species [21]
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