Briefings in Functional Genomics and Proteomics Advance Access published online on February 9, 2006
Briefings in Functional Genomics and Proteomics, doi:10.1093/bfgp/eli005
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* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Abiotic stresses such as extreme temperatures, low water availability, high salt and mineral deficiencies or toxicities severely diminish productivity of cereal crops. These stresses are becoming increasingly important because of the declining availability of good quality water, land degradation and community pressures to move away from chemical intervention in agriculture. Of the major cereals, wheat and barley are grown in the most hostile and consequently lowest yielding environments. Extensive genetic studies and surveys of landrace and wild germplasm have indicated extensive variation for abiotic stress tolerance but this has been difficult to exploit due to the relatively poor background knowledge of the molecular basis for stress in these species. Interconnected signal transduction pathways that lead to multiple responses to abiotic stresses have been difficult to study using traditional approaches because of their complexity and the large number of genes and gene products involved in the various defensive and developmental responses of the plant. Functional genomics is now widely seen as providing tools for dissecting abiotic stress responses in wheat and barley, through which networks of stress perception, signal transduction and defensive responses can be examined from gene transcription, through protein complements of cells, to the metabolite profiles of stressed tissues. Peter Langridge is professor of plant science at the University of Adelaide and chief executive officer of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG). His research has focused on development and application of molecular biology to crop improvement. Nicholas Paltridge has since worked on a range of research projects in cereal and crop science and is presently employed by the School of Agriculture and Wine at the University of Adelaide. His current work focuses on the development of more productive cereal cropping systems in Tibet. Geoff Fincher is professor of plant science at the University of Adelaide and director of the University's Waite Agricultural Research Institute. He is a plant biochemist who has applied enzymological, cell biological, molecular biological, functional genomics and structural biological techniques in studies of the enzymes involved in cell wall metabolism.
Paper
Functional genomics of abiotic stress tolerance in cereals
Peter Langridge *,
Nick Paltridge,
and
Geoff Fincher
Peter Langridge, E-mail: peter.langridge{at}acpfg.com.au
Abstract 
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