Title: Drought tolerance in higher plants : genetical, physiological, and molecular biological analysis /
Authors: Belhassen, E.
Publisher: Kluwer,
Year: 1997
Subjects: Crops Drought tolerance; Crops Effect of drought on
Abstract: Understanding how plants tolerate drought, with the objective of plant breeding, is a difficult challenge. Before considering the variability of drought and adaptation strategies, interdisciplinary approaches are necessary to identify mechanisms acting from the molecule to the species level leading to drought adaptation. Coordinating results obtained at different levels of perception into a comprehensive analysis allows the identification of the emergent properties of drought tolerance. In this book which is especially targeted at post-graduate students, teachers and scientists, 11 reviews present the state of the art on this subject. After defining drought and tolerance in the wild and in crops, responses and adaptations to drought are analysed at different levels of organisation (molecule, cell, organ and whole plant). The strategies and difficulties of drought tolerance breeding are described and the possibilities of improvement using new tools are proposed.
Contents: Drought and drought tolerance / J.B. Passioura -- The diversity of drought adaptation in the wide / P. Monneveux and E. Belhassen -- Drought perception by plants. Do cells of droughted plants experience water stress? / F. Tardieu -- Drought signal transduction in plants / A.B. Jensen, P.K. Busk and M. Figueras [and others] -- Responses of plants to dehydration stress: a molecular analysis / D. Bartels, A. Furini and J. Ingram [et al.] -- Plant cellular responses to water deficit / J.E. Muller and M.S. Whitsitt -- Mutants as tools to understand cellular and molecular drought tolerance mechanisms / N. Vartanian -- Crop responses to drought and the interpretation of adaptation / A. Blum -- Drought as a challenge for the plant breeder / S. Ceccarelli and S. Grando -- Defining selection criteria to improve yield under drought / R.A. Richards -- New molecular tools to improve the efficiency of breeding for increased drought resistance / S.A. Quarrie.