Plant Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses in Agriculture: Role of Genetic Engineering

Environmental stresses represent the most limiting factors for agricultural productivity worldwide. These stresses impact not only current crop species, they are also significant barriers to the introduction of crop plants into areas that are not currently being used for agriculture. Stresses associated with temperature, salinity and drought, singly or in combination, are likely to enhance the severity of problems to which plants will be exposed in the coming decades.
The present book brings together contributions from many laboratories around the world to discuss and compare our current knowledge of the role stress genes play in plant stress tolerance. In addition, strategies are discussed to introduce these genes and the processes that they encode into economically important crops, and the effect this will have on plant productivity.

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I: High Temperature Stress. Functional Specialization of Plant Class A and B HSFs; E. Czarnecka-Verner, et al. The Arabidopsis TCH Genes: Regulated in Expression by Mechanotransduction? J. Braam. The Regulation of GABA Accumulation by Heat Stress in Arabidopsis; R.D. Locy, et al. GABA Increases the Rate of Nitrate Uptake and Utilization in Arabidopsis Roots; J.M. Barbosa, et al. II: Low Temperature Stress. MAP Kinases in Plant Signal Transduction: Versatile Tools for Signaling Stress, Cell Cycle, and More; C. Jonak, et al. The Second Stage of Plant Acclimation to Low Temperatures: The Forgotten Step in Frost Hardening? A. Kacperskla. Genetic Engineering of Biosynthesis of Glycinebetaine Enhances Tolerance to Various Stress; A. Sakamoto, et al. III: Salinity Stress. Salt Tolerance at the Whole-Plant Level; A.R. Yeo, et al. Plant Homologues to the Yeast Halotolerance Gene HAL3; A. Espinosa-Ruiz, et al. Novel Determinants of Salinity Tolerance; N.K. Singh, et al. Progress and Prospects in Engineering Crops for Osmoprotectant Synthesis; B. Rathinasabapathi. IV: Drought Stress. Plant AP2/EREBP and bZIP Transcription Factors: Structure and Function; C. Nieva, et al. Role of Arabidopsis MYB Transcription Factors in Osmotic Stress; E. Cominelli, et al. Gene Expression During Dehydration in the Resurrection Plant Craterostigma plantagineum; J.R. Phillips, D. Bartels. Some Physiological and Molecular Insights into the Mechanisms of Dessication Tolerance in the Resurrection Plant Xerophyta viscosa Baker; S.G. Mundree, J.M. Farrant. Targets of Modifying Plant Growth and Development by ABA-mediated Signaling; A. Himmelbach, et al. V: Signal Transduction. Positional Cloning of A Plant Salt Tolerance Gene; L. Xiong, et al. Regulation of Ion Homeostasis in Plants and Fungi; J.M. Pardo, et al. Adh as a Model for Analysis of the Integration of Stress Response Regulation in Plants; M. Dolan-O'Keefe, R.J. Ferl. Sense and Sensibility: Inositol Phospholipids as Mediators of Abiotic Stress Responses; I. Heilmann, et al. VI: Oxidative and Heavy Metal Stress. Manipulation of Glutathione and Ascorbate Metabolism in Plants; G.M. Pastori, C.H. Foyer. Cadmium Toxicity in Leaf Peroxisomes from Pea Plants: Effect on the Activated Oxygen Metabolism-Proteolytic Activity; L.A. del Río. Metal-Chelate Reductases and `Plant MT's'; N.J. Robinson, Sadjuga. Evolutionary Responses to Zinc and Copper Stress in Bladder Campion, Silene vulgaris (Moench.) Garcke; H. Schat, et al.