TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS INVOLVED IN MOLECULAR RESPONSES OF PLANTS TO OSMOTIC STRESS

Abstract

Osmotic stress caused by cold, salinity and drought are among the major stresses, which adversely affect plant growth and productivity worldwide. Plant acclimation to osmotic stress depends on regulation of biochemical and molecular networks involved in stress perception, signal transduction and expression of specific genes related to such environmental restrictions. The key components controlling and modulating stress acclimation pathways are transcription factors, small proteins encoded by single genes that regulate expression of many other genes, leading to the modulation of complex acclimation mechanisms, Transcription factors represent a major target for understanding the mechanisms used by plants to develop tolerance against these kinds of environmental constraints. In higher plants with complete genome sequences, the number of transcription factor families is large and varies between 79 y 81, depending on the species. The objective of this review is to analyze the role of transcription factors in the molecular response mechanisms to osmotic stress, with emphasis on the NAC (NAM, ATAF1-2 and CUC) family and its role in the regulation of plant responses to osmotic stress.