Cited by 233Plant Stress Responses and TolerancePlant Molecular Biology ResearchGenetics and Plant Breeding

Drought response in wheat: key genes and regulatory mechanisms controlling root system architecture and transpiration efficiency

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Kulkarni, Manoj, Soolanayakanahally, Raju, Ogawa, Satoshi, Uga, Yusaku, Selvaraj, Michael G., Kagale, Sateesh·2017·Frontiers in Chemistry

Abstract

Abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, salinity and flooding threaten global food security. Crop genetic improvement with increased resilience to abiotic stresses is a critical component of crop breeding strategies. Wheat is an important cereal crop and a staple food source globally. Enhanced drought tolerance in wheat is critical for sustainable food production and global food security. Recent advances in drought tolerance research have uncovered many key genes and transcription regulators governing morpho-physiological traits. Genes controlling root architecture and stomatal development play an important role in soil moisture extraction and its retention, and therefore have been targets of molecular breeding strategies for improving drought tolerance. In this systematic review, we have summarized evidence of beneficial contributions of root and stomatal traits to plant adaptation to drought stress. Specifically, we discuss a few key genes such as DRO1 in rice and ERECTA in Arabidopsis and rice that were identified to be the enhancers of drought tolerance via regulation of root traits and transpiration efficiency. Additionally, we highlight several transcription factor families, such as ERF (ethylene response factors), DREB (dehydration responsive element binding), ZFP (zinc finger proteins), WRKY and MYB that were identified to be both positive and negative regulators of drought responses in wheat, rice, maize and/or Arabidopsis. The overall aim of this review was to provide an overview of candidate genes that have been tested as regulators of drought response in plants. The lack of a reference genome sequence for wheat and nontransgenic approaches for manipulation of gene functions in the past had impeded high-resolution interrogation of functional elements, including genes and QTLs, and their application in cultivar improvement. The recent developments in wheat genomics and reverse genetics, including the availability of a gold-standard reference genome sequence and advent genome editing technologies, are expected to aid in deciphering of the functional roles of genes and regulatory networks underlying adaptive phenological traits, and utilizing the outcomes of such studies in developing drought tolerance cultivars.

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Crossref · 10.3389/fchem.2017.00106

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  • The ERECTA gene family plays a critical role in drought tolerance by influencing root system architecture and transpiration efficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa.

    “A notable example is the ERECTA gene family, which plays a critical role in drought tolerance by influencing root system architecture and transpiration efficiency in both Arabidopsis thaliana and economically important crops like Oryza sativa (Kulkarni et al., 2017; Wen J. et al., 2019).”

    From Emerging applications of gene editing technologies for the development of climate-resilient crops (2025) · cites this paper as Kulkarni et al., 2017

    The 'Stomatal traits for enhanced drought tolerance' section (page not provided) reports that ERECTA regulates transpiration efficiency in Arabidopsis and that wheat ERECTA homologs are associated with related traits. It does not link ERECTA to root system architecture or establish the claimed role in rice; the 'Enhanced root growth for drought tolerance' section instead discusses DRO1 as a regulator of rice root architecture. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Authors
Kulkarni, M., Soolanayakanahally, R., Ogawa, S., Uga, Y., Selvaraj, M. G., & Kagale, S.
Affiliations
  • National Research Council Canada (CA)
  • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (CA)
  • The University of Tokyo (JP)
  • National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (JP)
  • International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CO)
Corresponding author
Kagale, Sateesh
Venue
Frontiers in Chemistry
Published
2017-12-05
Volume
5
Pages
106-106
ISSN
2296-2646 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2774114587
Cited by
230
References
133
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9
FWCI
1.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Chemistry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
  • National Research Council Canada
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Plant Molecular Biology Research
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Genetics and Plant Breeding
Keywords
wheat, drought tolerance, root architecture, transpiration efficiency, stomatal development, DRO1, ERECTA, transcription factors, ERF, DREB, WRKY, MYB, zinc finger proteins, abiotic stress, candidate genes, genome editing, wheat genomics, quantitative trait loci, food security

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