Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
13.5
Future directions and conclusions
The variations in gene expression are likely to play a criti-
cal role in both acclimation and adaptation to a changing
environment; thus, they influence plant growth and develop-
ment. Understanding how climate changes will impact plant
gene expression and its downstream pathway is of paramount
importance for crop productivity and yield. Furthermore, gene
expression helps us to understand a few aspects of hormone-
regulated downstream events, for instance, transcriptional
reprogramming and regulation of the signalling molecule.
Molecular and genomic analyses have facilitated gene expres-
sion and enabled plant genetic engineering using several func-
tional or regulatory transcription factors or other regulatory
genes to activate specific or broad pathways related to stress
tolerance in plants. Recent years have marked a period of sig-
nificant progress in defining both
cis
-acting elements within
the regulatory regions of genes. The use of different stress-
inducible promoters appeared to improve the plant tolerance
by minimising disturbance to development during environ-
mental stress. Significant cross talk and inter-connections
are involved between these above factors in stress signalling.
Nevertheless, systematic methodologies with molecular and
genomic investigates will facilitate the resolution of such com-
plex networks and lead to the finding of other stress factors
or mechanisms during the changing environmental scenario.
Recent developments have identified several signalling path-
way factors related to the stress gene expression response in
plants. But, our understanding of the whole-plant climate
change gene expression and stress response mechanism is
inadequate. Therefore, the challenge to understand the inter-
action between gene expression and stress response during
the changing environmental condition and simultaneously the
increase in crop productivity is very essential. So, recognising
the chain of molecular events from the changing environmen-
tal condition insight by numerous signalling molecules to their
physiological function is essential for defining the molecular
network of stress-signalling pathway better. Identification of
various stress-regulated synthetic and modified promoters as
well as
cis
-regulatory elements is also necessary in the context
of climate change. To further develop method to gain a better
understanding of different signalling components, their func-
tions and how these signals communicate with stress-regulated
promoters, imminent experimental studies and assessment
