Plant drought stress tolerance: understanding its physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms

Figures & data

Table 1. Effect of water scarcity on plant growth and development.

Plant species	Effect	References
Thymus vulgaris	Decreased shoot and root fresh weight, and the ratio of root/shoot fresh weight.	[50]
Zea mays	Decreased plant height, reduced number of fresh shoot and dry weight and yield.	[51]
Phaseolus vulgaris	Reduced dry mass, leaf area index, decreased number of pods per plant and seeds per pod and reduction in total crop production.	[52]
Zea mays	Significantly reduced shoot fresh and dry mass.	[53]
Piper nigrum	Reduced girth of stem, leaf number and area, fresh and dry mass of shoot and root.	[49,54]

Table 2. Impact of water scarcity on photosynthesis and its associated attributes.

Plant/crop	Effects	References
Phaseolus vulgaris	Decreased net photosynthesis and its related parameters.	[52]
Triticum aestivum	Reduced chlorophyll a, b, and a/b, diminished rate of photosynthesis (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate.	[68]
Acacia tortilis	Decreased Water potential, photosynthetic attributes.	[75]
Glycine max	Decreased photosynthetic rates (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), maximum quantum efficiency (Fv/FM), photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) and non-photochemical quenching coefficient (qN)	[54]
Brassica juncea	Significantly reduced plant development and photosynthesis, ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco) activity	[76]
Saccharum officinarum	Reduced chlorophyll content, disorganized chloroplast ultrastructure	[77]
Zea mays	Decreased photosynthesis and transpiration	[78]
Poa pratensis	Diminished rate of photosynthesis, water use efficiency, decreased cholorophyll levels, Rubisco activity	[79]
Plectranthus scutellarioides	Reduced leaf Chl index, maximum photochemical efficiency and lateral reactivity	[80]
Wheat	Reduced contents of chlorophyll a, chl b, total chl, and carotenoids, decreased net photosynthetic rate, inhibited leaf transpiration rate	[81]
Solanum lycopersicum	Decreased levels of chlorophyll, Fv/Fm, chlorophyll stability index (CSI)	[82]

Table 3. Modified crops using CRISPR for drought stress tolerance.

Plant	Target gene(s)	Abiotic stress	References
Solanum lycopersicum	SlMAPK3	Drought tolerance	[159]
Arabidopsis thaliana	UGT79B2, UGT79B3	Drought stresses	[159]
Arabidopsis thaliana	MIR169a	Drought tolerance	[171]
Oryza sativa	OsPDS, OsMPK2, OsBADH2, OsMPK5, OsAOX1a, OsBEL, OsAOX1b, OsAOX1c	Various abiotic stress tolerance	[163,172]
Oryza sativa	OsDERF1, OsPMS3, OsMYB5, OsEPSPS, OsMSH1	Drought tolerance	[173]

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Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.