A comprehensive overview of recent advances in drought stress tolerance research in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Wheat is an important food crop grown worldwide and used as staple food in many countries. Its production is affected by several factors including abiotic stresses and drought is one of the most damaging and frequently occurring abiotic stresses. Several efforts have been made to address and cope with it at morphological, physiological and molecular levels, have been summarized. Different morphological and physiological traits identified through successive efforts include osmotic adjustment, cell membrane stability and stomatal conductance and showed positive correlation with drought tolerance. Some quantitative trait loci have also been discovered in wheat genome on chromosome 4A that showed significant association with this mechanism. Proteomic and gene functional analysis revealed the genes involved in vital biological pathways (e.g., reactive oxygen species scavenging, etc.) and showed significant correlation with drought tolerance. Therefore, the information generated through both the QTLs and gene functional analysis could be utilized to achieve drought tolerance in wheat.