Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7
Genotoxic Stress, DNA Repair, and Crop
Productivity
Alma Balestrazzi, Massimo Confalonieri, Anca Macovei, Mattia Donà
and Daniela Carbonera
1 Introduction
It is generally acknowledged that plants exposed to adverse environments undergo
oxidative stress, resulting in severe injury at the cellular and molecular levels. Envi-
ronmental pollution, caused by anthropogenic activities, as well as water stress and
high temperature conditions associated with rapid climate changes contribute to soil
deterioration and thus affect crop productivity (Ahmad et al.
2010
). When plants
are challenged with oxidative stress, protective responses which include a complex
network of integrated molecular and cellular events, are activated. Initial stress per-
ception and transduction of stress signal are key factors leading to modulation of
gene expression and finally to the plant response.
Till date, most agronomically relevant genotypes deriving from long-term selec-
tion lacks the ability to adapt to environmental fluctuations and suboptimal growth
conditions. Such an unfavorable situation is in contrast with the increasing global
food demand. According to recent estimates, the world population will rise from 6.8
to 9.1 billion in 2050 and nearly all the expected growth will be localized in devel-
oping countries (Alexandratos
2009
). For this reason, strong efforts are currently
dedicated to understand the multiple aspects of plant stress molecular biology in
order to acquire novel insights and provide advanced tools/technologies for improv-
ing plant survival and ensure optimal agronomical performance.
In recent years, molecular breeding and genetic engineering have contributed
significantly to the basic knowledge of the cellular mechanisms involved in stress
response, suggesting new strategies to enhance stress tolerance in plants (Sreeniva-
