Elsevier

Journal of Plant Physiology

Volume 161, Issue 11, 18 November 2004, Pages 1189-1202
Journal of Plant Physiology

Review
Drought-induced responses of photosynthesis and antioxidant metabolism in higher plants

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jplph.2004.01.013Get rights and content

Abstract

Environmental stresses trigger a wide variety of plant responses, ranging from altered gene expression and cellular metabolism to changes in growth rates and crop yields. A plethora of plant reactions exist to circumvent the potentially harmful effects caused by a wide range of both abiotic and biotic stresses, including light, drought, salinity, high temperatures, and pathogen infections. Among the environmental stresses, drought stress is one of the most adverse factors of plant growth and productivity. Understanding the biochemical and molecular responses to drought is essential for a holistic perception of plant resistance mechanisms to water-limited conditions. Drought stress progressively decreases CO2 assimilation rates due to reduced stomatal conductance. Drought stress also induces reduction in the contents and activities of photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle enzymes, including the key enzyme, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. The critical roles of proline and glycine-betaine, as well as the role of abscisic acid (ABA), under drought stress conditions have been actively researched to understand the tolerance of plants to dehydration. In addition, drought stress-induced generation of active oxygen species is well recognized at the cellular level and is tightly controlled at both the production and consumption levels in vivo, through increased antioxidative systems. Knowledge of sensing and signaling pathways, including ABA-mediated changes in response to drought stress, is essential to improve crop management. This review focuses on the ability and strategies of higher plants to respond and adapt to drought stress.

Introduction

Plants are subjected to several harsh environmental stresses that adversely affect growth, metabolism, and yield. Drought, salinity, low and high temperatures, flood, pollutants, and radiation are the important stress factors limiting the productivity of crops (Lawlor, 2002). Several biotic (insects, bacteria, fungi, and viruses) and abiotic (light, temperature, water availability, nutrients, and soil structure) factors affect the growth in higher plants (as reviewed by [44], [46]). Among these, drought is a major abiotic factor that limits agricultural crop production. Plants experience drought stress either when the water supply to roots becomes difficult or when the transpiration rate becomes very high. These two conditions often coincide under arid and semi-arid climates. Water stress tolerance is seen in almost all plant species but its extent varies from species to species. Although the general effects of drought on plant growth are fairly well known, the primary effects of water deficit at the biochemical and the molecular levels are not well understood (Zhu, 2002; Chaitanya et al., 2003; Chaves et al., 2003). In order to improve the agricultural productivity within the limited land resources, it is imperative to ensure higher crop yields against unfavorable environmental stresses. Understanding plant responses to the external environment is of greater importance and also a fundamental part for making the crops stress tolerant. In this article we provide an overview of the current understanding of photosynthetic carbon metabolism under drought. In addition, we will describe the cellular antioxidative defense strategies used to circumvent the deleterious effects of drought in the leaves of higher plants.

Section snippets

Photosynthesis under drought

The foliar photosynthetic rate, A, of higher plants is known to decrease as the relative water content (RWC) and leaf water potential decrease (Lawlor and Cornic, 2002). However, the debate continues as to whether drought mainly limits photosynthesis through stomatal closure or through metabolic impairment (Tezara et al., 1999; Lawson et al., 2003). Stomatal limitation was generally accepted to be the main determinant of reduced photosynthesis under drought stress (Cornic, 2000). This has been

Drought-induced oxidative stress in plants

Acclimation of plants to changing environmental conditions such as drought stress is essential for survival and growth. Plant responses to drought stress, especially in reference to chloroplast metabolism, are complex. Drought stress is known to inhibit photosynthetic activity in tissues due to an imbalance between light capture and its utilization (Foyer and Noctor, 2000). Down regulation of photosystem II (PSII) activity results in an imbalance between the generation and utilization of

Plant responses to drought stress

The responses of plants to drought stress are highly complex, involving deleterious and/or adaptive changes. In particular, if the drought stress is under field conditions, the plant responses can be modified synergistically or antagonistically. Early responses of plants to drought stress usually help the plant to survive for some time, while the acclimation of the plant subjected to drought is indicated by the accumulation of certain new metabolites associated with the structural capabilities

Abscisic acid (ABA) responsiveness to water deficit in plants

The plant hormone ABA is produced de novo under water deficit conditions and plays a major role in response and tolerance to dehydration (Shinozaki and Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, 1999). ABA is synthesized from xanthophylls via violaxanthin, xanthoxin and ABA-aldehyde (C-40 pathway). The conversion of violaxanthin to xanthoxin is the rate-limiting step in ABA biosynthesis under drought stress. The involvement of drought-induced ABA and ethylene in shoot and root growth is still a controversial subject

Deciphering the molecular events in plants under drought

Plants respond to water deficit and adapt to semi-arid drought conditions by various physiological, biochemical, anatomical, and morphological changes, including transitions in gene expression. Plants also adapt different types of life strategies to cope and resist drought stress. Two such strategies are drought avoidance and drought tolerance. Drought avoidance is the ability of the plant to maintain high tissue water potential under drought conditions, while drought tolerance is a plant's

Perspectives of future research

Plant productivity is greatly affected by environmental stresses, and drought stress is among the worst scourges of agriculture. Water deficit occurs, not only during drought, but also during cold conditions and causes turgor stress at the cellular level. Thus, a change in the osmotic potential across the plasma membrane should be one of the triggers of the stress response at the molecular level, thus resulting in an oxidative burst under drought stress conditions. An understanding of the

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