Molecular and genetic aspects of plant responses to
osmotic stress.
Xiong L, Zhu JK.
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Drought, high salinity and freezing impose osmotic stress on plants. Plants
respond to the stress in part by modulating gene expression, which eventually
leads to the restoration of cellular homeostasis, detoxification of toxins and
recovery of growth. The signal transduction pathways mediating these adaptations
can be dissected by combining forward and reverse genetic approaches with
molecular, biochemical and physiological studies. Arabidopsis is a useful
genetic model system for this purpose and its relatives including the halophyte
Thellungiella halophila, can serve as valuable complementary genetic model
systems.