Recent advances in the characterization of plant transcriptomes in response to drought, salinity, heat, and cold stress

Khurram Bashir; Akihiro Matsui; Sultana Rasheed; Motoaki Seki

doi:10.12688/f1000research.18424.1

Recent advances in the characterization of plant transcriptomes in response to drought, salinity, heat, and cold stress

F1000Res. 2019 May 14:8:F1000 Faculty Rev-658. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.18424.1. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Khurram Bashir¹, Akihiro Matsui^{1

2}, Sultana Rasheed¹, Motoaki Seki^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Plant Genomic Network Research Team, CSRS, RIKEN, Yokohama, Tsurumi-ku, Kanagawa, 230-0045, Japan.
² Plant Epigenome Regulation Laboratory, CPR, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.
³ Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, 244-0813, Japan.
⁴ Core Research for Evolutionary Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan.

Abstract

Despite recent advancements in plant molecular biology and biotechnology, providing food security for an increasing world population remains a challenge. Drought (water scarcity), salinity, heat, and cold stress are considered major limiting factors that affect crop production both qualitatively and quantitatively. Therefore, the development of cost-effective and environmentally friendly strategies will be needed to resolve these agricultural problems. This will require a comprehensive understanding of transcriptomic alterations that occur in plants in response to varying levels of environmental stresses, singly and in combination. Here, we briefly discuss the current status and future challenges in plant research related to understanding transcriptional changes that occur in response to drought, salinity, heat, and cold stress.

Keywords: Cold Stress; Drought Stress; Heat Stress; Microarray Analysis; RNA Seq Analysis; Salinity Stress; Transcriptomic analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Cold-Shock Response
Droughts*
Hot Temperature*
Plant Physiological Phenomena*
Plants
Salinity*
Transcriptome*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency, Core Research for Evolutionary Science and Technology (JPMJCR13B4 to MS), grants from RIKEN, Japan (to MS), and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (Innovative Areas 18H04791 and 18H04705 to MS).