Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

As wheat is one of the three major crops in the world, improving its drought tolerance is crucial for human beings to develop sustainable food in the context of global climate change. This review updates the studies on wheat exposed to drought stress. In this work, the physiological responses of wheat plants under water deficit are discussed from different angles. A comprehensive description of droughttolerance mechanisms in wheat plants is given. The current state of researches on drought-related traits is reviewed. To further demonstrate the genetic basis of wheat drought tolerance, some knowledge of the powerful genetic research tool, Genome-wide Association study, is elaborated on. In addition, this review also summarizes multiple potential approaches for further studies on drought-related candidate genes. The results obtained utilizing those advanced technologies in this area so far are thoroughly illustrated. Finally, the challenges of investigating wheat genotypes in drought condition and mixtures of natural abiotic stresses are discussed. Traditional difficulties and novel progress in the wheat root system investigation are elaborated.