Molecular Strategies for Identification and Deployment of Gene(s) for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Crop Plants Wani Shabir H1, Singh NB2, Jeberson SM2, Sanghera GS3, Haribhushan A4, Chaudhury BU5, Bhat MA6 1Programme Coordinator, PBG, Farm Science Centre- (KVK-Senapati) Hengbung, P.O. Kangpokpi, Senapati Dist., Manipur, 795 129, India 2Assistant Professor, PBG, COA, Central Agricultural University, Imphal-795004, Manipur, India 3Associate Professor, PBG, SKUAST-Kashmir, Mountain Research Centre for Field Crops, Khudwani, Anantnag, 192102, J&K, India 4Subject Matter Specialist, Soil Science, Farm Science Centre- (KVK-Senapati) Hengbung, P.O. kangpokpi, Senapati Dist, Manipur, 795129, India 5Senior Scientist, NRM, ICAR Research Complex for NEH region, Umiam, 793 103, Meghalaya, India 6Associate Professor, PBG, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of PBG, SKUAST-Kashmir, 190001, J&K, India Abstract We live in a momentous period for deploying plant genetic resources to meet abiotic environmental challenges to agricultural productivity and human well-being. Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, high and low temperatures and others limit yield and productivity of many cultivated crop plants worldwide. Conventional plant breeding techniques, though resulted in development of many abiotic stress-tolerant varieties has not provided the complete solution to this problem. The successful use of gene technology for complex crop traits and responses to stress environments remains a challenging approach despite its potential. In recent years there have been novel functional genomics approaches in the field of plant biotechnology for identifying genes through transcript profiling, mapping and cloning of QTLS and their deployment through transgenic approach and marker-assisted selection, respectively. These approaches have provided altogether new dimensions to crop improvement activities and opened up avenues for addressing some of the difficult problems hitherto highly intractable through conventional means. In this article efforts have been made to review experimental contrasting case studies reported for identification and deployment of gene(s) for the enhancement of abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants using various strategies. Top |