Drought Tolerance

Water availability is one of the principal environmental limits of crop yield throughout the world. Drought hampers the cultivation of crops on more than 40% of the earth’s land surface. It poses serious threats to global agricultural production and food supplies. In order to minimize yield damage and improve food production efficiency in response to drought, we are deploying constructive strategies to counter this stress.

Plant response to drought stress is complex with multiple pathways playing roles in ameliorating the effects.  The phytohormone, abscisic acid (ABA) controls many adaptive responses in plants under drought conditions.  Among these is the management of stomatal pore closure thus reducing water loss through transpiration.  FuturaGene has discovered key genes implicated in these pathways that allow plants to significantly enhance their tolerance to drought stress.

Several plant varieties have been transformed with these genes. Transformed  plants show enhanced tolerance  to water deficit.