Abscisic Acid Signalling as a Target for Enhancing Drought Tolerance

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a vital hormone that confers abiotic stress tolerance in plants. The identification of PYR/PYL/RCAR proteins as bona fide ABA receptors and the subsequent elucidation of the structural mechanisms of the core ABA signalling pathway in recent years has provided new and powerful insights in targeting ABA signalling to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in agriculture. This chapter reviews the components and molecular mechanisms of the core ABA signalling pathway, as revealed by X-ray crystallography studies, and how these knowledge led to preliminary efforts in novel biotechnological developments to improve stress tolerance in plants