A molecular code explains how plants sense drought and opens new strategies for crop improvement

What is it about?

Plants have adapted to changing environments for more than 450 million years, developing sophisticated mechanisms to cope with water limitation. A key element in this process is the hormone abscisic acid (ABA), which enables plants to detect drought and activate protective responses. In this study, we have uncovered how the proteins that perceive have evolved to fine-tune plant responses to environmental stress. The work identifies a minimal “molecular code” of five amino acids that determines how sensitively these receptors respond and whether their activity depends on the presence of the hormone. By comparing receptors from early land plants to modern crops and performing structure-guided modifications, the researchers show how this code controls receptor function and how it evolved to expand the range of stress conditions plants can respond to.

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Why is it important?

This knowledge provides a foundation for engineering plant responses to drought, offering new strategies to improve crop resilience and water-use efficiency in the context of climate change.