Redox-engineering enhances maize thermotolerance and grain yield in the field.

Increasing populations and temperatures are expected to escalate food demands beyond production capacities, and the development of maize lines with better performance under heat stress is desirable. Here, we report that constitutive ectopic expression of a heterologous glutaredoxin S17 from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtGRXS17) can provide thermotolerance in maize through enhanced chaperone activity and modulation of heat stress-associated gene expression. The thermotolerant maize lines had increased protection against protein damage and yielded a sixfold increase in grain production in comparison to the non-transgenic counterparts under heat stress field conditions.

Ectopic Expression of a Heterologous Glutaredoxin Enhances Drought Tolerance and Grain Yield in Field Grown Maize.

Drought stress is a major constraint in global maize production, causing almost 30-90% of the yield loss depending upon growth stage and the degree and duration of the stress. Here, we report that ectopic expression of () in field grown maize conferred tolerance to drought stress during the reproductive stage, which is the most drought sensitive stage for seed set and, consequently, grain yield. -expressing maize lines displayed higher seed set in the field, resulting in 2-fold and 1.

Silencing of OsGRXS17 in rice improves drought stress tolerance by modulating ROS accumulation and stomatal closure.

Glutaredoxins (GRXs) modulate redox-dependent signaling pathways and have emerged as key mediators in plant responses to environmental stimuli. Here we report that RNAi-mediated suppression of Oryza sativa GRXS17 (OsGRXS17) improved drought tolerance in rice. Gene expression studies showed that OsGRXS17 was present throughout the plant and that transcript abundance increased in response to drought stress and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment.

Expression of a monothiol glutaredoxin, AtGRXS17, in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) enhances drought tolerance.

Abiotic stresses are a major factor limiting crop growth and productivity. The Arabidopsis thaliana glutaredoxin S17 (AtGRXS17) gene has conserved functions in plant tolerance to heat and chilling stress in Arabidopsis and, when expressed ectopically, in tomato. Here, we report that ectopic expression of AtGRXS17 in tomato also enhanced tolerance to drought and oxidative stress.