Metabolic engineering: Towards water deficiency adapted crop plants

Abstract

Water deficiency caused by drought is one of the severe environmental conditions limiting plant growth, development, and yield. In this review article, we will summarize the changes in transcription, metabolism, and phytohormones under drought stress conditions and show the key transcription factors in these processes. We will also highlight the recent attempts to enhance stress tolerance without growth retardation and discuss the perspective on the development of stress adapted crops by engineering transcription factors.

Keywords: ABA; Carbon metabolism; Drought; Growth retardation; Stress tolerance; Transcription factors.