Overexpression of the vascular brassinosteroid receptor BRL3 confers drought resistance without penalizing plant growth.

ABSTRACT: Drought represents a major threat to food security. Mechanistic data describing plant responses to drought have been studied extensively and genes conferring drought resistance have been introduced into crop plants. However, plants with enhanced drought resistance usually display lower growth, highlighting the need for strategies to uncouple drought resistance from growth. Here, we show that overexpression of BRL3, a vascular-enriched member of the brassinosteroid receptor family, can confer drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Whereas loss-of-function mutations in the ubiquitously expressed BRI1 receptor leads to drought resistance at the expense of growth, overexpression of BRL3 receptor confers drought tolerance without penalizing overall growth. Systematic analyses reveal that upon

SUBMITTER: Fabregas N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6224425 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature