Tackling drought stress: receptor-like kinases present new approaches.
Global climate change and a growing population require tackling the reduction in arable land and improving biomass production and seed yield per area under varying conditions. One of these conditions is suboptimal water availability. Here, we review some of the classical approaches to dealing with plant response to drought stress and we evaluate how research on RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASES (RLKs) can contribute to improving plant performance under drought stress. RLKs are considered as key regulators of plant architecture and growth behavior, but they also function in defense and stress responses. The available literature and analyses of available transcript profiling data indeed suggest that RLKs can play an important role in optimizing plant responses to drought stress. In addition, RLK pathways are ideal targets for nontransgenic approaches, such as synthetic molecules, providing a novel strategy to manipulate their activity and supporting translational studies from model species, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, to economically useful crops.
Division of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK.
Alex
A
Marshall
Reidunn B
RB
Aalen
Dominique
D
Audenaert
Tom
T
Beeckman
Martin R
MR
Broadley
Melinka A
MA
Butenko
Ana I
AI
Caño-Delgado
Sacco
S
de Vries
Thomas
T
Dresselhaus
Georg
G
Felix
Neil S
NS
Graham
John
J
Foulkes
Christine
C
Granier
Thomas
T
Greb
Ueli
U
Grossniklaus
John P
JP
Hammond
Renze
R
Heidstra
Charlie
C
Hodgman
Michael
M
Hothorn
Dirk
D
Inzé
Lars
L
Ostergaard
Eugenia
E
Russinova
Rüdiger
R
Simon
Aleksandra
A
Skirycz
Yvonne
Y
Stahl
Cyril
C
Zipfel
Ive
I
De Smet
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000502:physiology; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D012107:Research Design; D013312:Stress, Physiological
D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D011494:Protein Kinases