ABSTRACT
Improving drought and heat tolerance in wheat Xinguo Mao, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China; Delong Yang, College of Life Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, China; and Ruilian Jing, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
1 Introduction
2 Exploiting physiological traits to assist traditional wheat breeding
3 Genetic analysis and identification of molecular markers: overview
4 Genetic analysis and identification of molecular markers: key physiological traits
5 Genes conferring drought tolerance in wheat: overview
6 Genes conferring drought tolerance in wheat: the roles of protein kinase and phosphatase, TFs and functional genes
7 HS-responsive genes identified in wheat
8 The current status of genetically modified wheat
9 Conclusions and future trends
10 Where to look for further information
11 Abbreviations
12 References
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), one of the most important staple food crops, is grown under a broad range of environmental conditions, including under different water regimes and climatic conditions, and in different soil types. Changes in global climate have increased the variability of precipitation, and have made frequent episodes of drought and/or high temperature more common (Trenberth 2011). These stresses, often occurring in combination during grain filling in arid or semiarid areas (Wardlaw and Willenbrink 2000), are considered to be the two most common environmental limitations to wheat growth and yield potential (Sallam et al. 2015). Drought and/or heat stresses (HSs) irreversibly cause a significant reduction in grain yield with the size of the reduction determined by the magnitude and duration of the stressful scenarios (Guóth et al. 2009; Sallam et al. 2015).
