Enhanced Nitric Oxide Synthesis Through Nitrate Supply Improves Drought Tolerance of Sugarcane Plants.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule associated with many biochemical and physiological processes in plants under stressful conditions. Nitrate reductase (NR) not only mediates the reduction of NO to NO but also reduces NO to NO, a relevant pathway for NO production in higher plants. Herein, we hypothesized that sugarcane plants supplied with more NO as a source of N would produce more NO under water deficit.