UCR Scientists Discover a Blueprint for Engineering Drought Tolerant Crops

A team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside led by Sean Cutler discovered a blueprint that will help develop drought tolerant crops.

When a plant is exposed to drought, it fights and survives stress by activating a set of protein called receptors. The receptors are activated by a stress hormone called abscisic acid and causes different beneficial changes to help the plant survive. These changes include closing of guard cells on leaves to avoid dehydration, temporary halt of growth to decrease the use of water, among others.

"Receptors are the cell's conductors and the abscisic acid receptors orchestrate the specific symphony that elicits stress tolerance," said Cutler, a member of UC Riverside's Institute for Integrative Genome Biology. "We've now figured out how to turn the orchestra on at will."

Cutler and colleagues' discovery of the function of the abscisic acid receptors was acknowledged as a "breakthrough of the year in 2009" due to its relevance in developing drought and stress tolerant plants. Because of this discovery, drought tolerant crops are closer to becoming a reality.

Read the media release at http://newsroom.ucr.edu/2807.