Role of Transcriptomics in Elucidating Mechanism of Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants

Abiotic stresses like drought, high temperature spells and salinity can seriously deteriorate the crop yield, which can worsen the food supply scenario at global level. Recently, transcriptomics approach has been used for a finer and deeper analysis of stress response mechanisms and adaptation of plants experiencing stress conditions. Comparative study of stress-tolerant and stress-sensitive plant varieties at transcriptomics level can shed further light on stress-adaptive strategies in plants. Employing these approaches, some stress-associated mechanisms have been observed and further research is being done in terms of single cell transcriptomic analysis and developmental stage-specific analysis for further refined knowledge. Recently, many refined techniques such as microarray analysis, RNA-seq analysis, genomic-scale expressed sequence tags and next generation sequencing have been developed which are now being utilized for generating stress response related data and will enhance our understanding of stress-responsive mechanisms. The information obtained through these approaches will contribute toward developing plants especially crop plants better equipped to counter and adapt to various abiotic stress conditions without compromising their yield potential. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are an important group of rhizospheric microorganisms which help plants in mitigation of abiotic stress by acting as biostimulants and inducing modifications at molecular, biochemical and physiological levels. In this chapter, stress-responsive and adaptive mechanisms at transcriptomics level in plants exposed to various abiotic stress conditions such as high temperature, drought and salinity have been discussed. Transcriptomic alterations induced by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria in abiotic stress tolerance in plants are also discussed.