title: Novel perspectives for the engineering of abiotic stress tolerance in plants.
abstract: Adverse environmental conditions pose serious limitations to agricultural production. Classical biotechnological approaches towards increasing abiotic stress tolerance focus on boosting plant endogenous defence mechanisms. However, overexpression of regulatory elements or effectors is usually accompanied by growth handicap and yield penalties due to crosstalk between developmental and stress-response networks. Herein we offer an overview on novel strategies with the potential to overcome these limitations based on the engineering of regulatory systems involved in the fine-tuning of the plant response to environmental hardships, including post-translational modifications, small RNAs, epigenetic control of gene expression and hormonal networks. The development and application of plant synthetic biology tools and approaches will add new functionalities and perspectives to genetic engineering programs for enhancing abiotic stress tolerance.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biotecnología Vegetal, Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral (IAL-CONICET), Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, CC242 Ciudad Universitaria, Santa Fe, Argentina.
authors.forename: Julieta V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Cabello
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR-CONICET) Ocampo y Esmeralda, Rosario and Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Suipacha 531, Rosario, Argentina.
authors.forename: Anabella F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Lodeyro
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg and BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestrasse 18, 79104 Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address: matias.zurbriggen@biologie.uni-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Matias D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Zurbriggen
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002241:Carbohydrates; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D006706:Homeostasis; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000378:metabolism; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D010766:Phosphorylation; D063245:Plant Development; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D058207:Sumoylation; D058615:Synthetic Biology; D054875:Ubiquitination
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D002241:Carbohydrates; D035683:MicroRNAs; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species