Enhancement of Plant Drought Tolerance by Microbes

Abstract

Plants are limited to protect themselves against environmental stresses including drought. Thus, plants develop a wide range of strategies to cope with stress situations. Under conditions of water deficiency, drought escape and drought tolerance are two important strategies to ensure plant growth. There is limited reported information dealing with the role of microbes on the improvement of drought tolerance. Here, we provide an overview of current knowledge on the general features of the induction of drought tolerance mediated by inoculation of plants with fungi, bacteria, and viruses, and several bacterial determinants and plant signaling transduction pathways revealed by classic physiological or morphological observations and recent “Omics” technology. Overall, the application of microbes provides new insights into novel protocols to improve plant defense responses to drought, an important component of agricultural production systems affected by a changing climate.