
Branched chain amino acids accumulation contributes to drought tolerance in rice
The accumulation of metabolites such as proline as compatible osmolytes is a protective mechanism against drought stress in plants. Similarly, under drought conditions, there is an observable increase in the accumulation of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), including the essential amino acids isoleucine,…

Improving harvest index under drought stress in rice
Harvest index (HI) is the ratio of grain yield to the sum of grain, leaf, and stem biomass. HI is affected by environmental conditions such as water availability. Previously, carbohydrate remobilization from stem to grain has been shown to be affected by drought (which in rice contributes to C remobilization)…

Microtubule control during stomatal movement
Wang et al. investigate the function of SPR1 in ABA-induced stomatal closure
By Pan Wang and Sijia Qi
State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry; Department of Plant Sciences, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Background: Drought…

Drought-induced civil conflict among the ancient Maya (Nature Comms)
The observation that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” (attributed to philosopher George Santayana) is quite relevant for our efforts to comprehend the impacts of climate change. As we observe temperature and rainfall records being broken with increasing frequency,…

How to Thrive under Stress: Stay True to Your Roots
Groen et al. investigate the genes and traits under selection when rice experiences drought.
By Simon C. “Niels” Groen a,b and Amelia Henryc
a Institute of Integrative Genome Biology and Department of Nematology, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA;
b Center for Genomics…

How drought affects the asynchrony between anthesis and silking
Liu et al. demonstrate how manipulating ZmEXPA4 gene expression in developing maize ears alleviates the prolonged anthesis and silking interval in response to drought. The Plant Cell (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab083
By Boxin Liu and Feng Qin
Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of…