Abstract
Drought is one of the major constraints to rain-fed agricultural production, especially under climate change conditions. Plants evolved an array of adaptive strategies that perceive stress stimuli and respond to these stress signals through specific mechanisms. Abscisic acid (ABA) is a premier signal for plants to respond to drought and plays a critical role in plant growth and development. ABA triggers a variety of physiological processes such as stomatal closure, root system modulation, organizing soil microbial communities, activation of transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene expression, and metabolic alterations. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of ABA-mediated drought responses in plants is critical for ensuring crop yield and global food security. In this review, we highlighted how plants adjust ABA perception, transcriptional levels of ABA- and drought-related genes, and regulation of metabolic pathways to alter drought stress responses at both cellular and the whole plant level. Understanding the synergetic role of drought and ABA will strengthen our knowledge to develop stress-resilient crops through integrated advanced biotechnology approaches. This review will elaborate on ABA-mediated drought responses at genetic, biochemical, and molecular levels in plants, which is critical for advancement in stress biology research.
Highlights
Introduction iationsDrought stress reduces soil water content which restricts water uptake by the plant root thereby limiting plant growth and productivity [1]
Abscisic acid is of prime importance due to its stress-related responses and its involvement in various plant growth processes, making it possible to adapt to drought conditions
Drought resistance of Phleum pretense via osmolytes secretion [109]. These findings suggest that endogenous Abscisic acid (ABA) content is essential for promoting growth
Summary
Abscisic acid is of prime importance due to its stress-related responses and its involvement in various plant growth processes, making it possible to adapt to drought conditions. Zhang et al [15] found that the MATE transporter gene, AtDTX50, is involved in ABA efflux, while mutants of dtx show enhanced tolerance to drought with reduced stomatal conductance relative to WT plants. The PYR/PYL/RCAR) proteins are reported to be involved in improving drought tolerance in many species such as Arabidopsis, tomato, and rice [25,26,27,28]. Overexpression of OsbZIP72 showed increased expression of ABA-responsive gene LEAs (late embryogenesis abundant genes) and improved drought resistance in rice, which may be useful for the engineering of droughtresilient crops [31]. A plethora of studies have shown the critical roles of ABA in regulating genes expression, proteins, and enzymatic activities involved in plant cell dehydration tolerance [33,34]. ABA-mediated drought tolerance is required for plants to fully respond to drought stress
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