Step Forward Towards Drought Tolerance in Crops

When a plant encounters drought, it does its best to cope with this stress by activating a set of protein molecules called receptors. These receptors, once activated, turn on processes that help the plant survive the stress.
A team of plant cell biologists has discovered how to rewire this cellular machinery to heighten the plants' stress response -- a finding that can be used to engineer crops to give them a better shot at surviving and displaying increased yield under drought conditions.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111219152520.htm

Assaf Mosquna (left) is a postdoctoral researcher working with Sean Cutler, an associate professor of plant cell biology in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside. (Credit: UCR Strategic Communications)