Sustaining and enhancing crop productivity in an era of climate change

The earth is experiencing a faster change in climate in the 21st century than it had in the past. Abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity, exacerbated by the fast changing climatic conditions pose a major hurdle in sustaining crop productivity. Developing crop plants able to yield better under abiotic stresses offer hope in this situation. Understanding abiotic stress-tolerance mechanisms in a plant system is crucial to improve the stress tolerance. The present review discusses broad molecular mechanisms of plant abiotic stress tolerance and outlines the latest biotechnological advances aiding plant abiotic stress research, with particular reference to the work carried out at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. The advantages of using extremophilesas model organisms (as conceptualized by M. S. Swaminathan) for identification of novel genetic combinations and understanding stress tolerance are discussed here.