ニコチン酸による植物の乾燥ストレス耐性とバイオマス生産性の向上

抄録

Drought stress mitigation and increasing plant productivity are two major goals for a sustainable future amidst growing populations and global climatic changes. Understanding inherent mechanisms adopted by plants to resist drought stress and to maintain optimal growth could act as fundamental tools which can be utilized for developing technologies for increasing the growth and survival potential of plants. Nicotinic acid (NA) participates in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) biosynthesis and recycling pathways. Nicotinamidase 3 (NIC3), a root-specific and drought-responsive gene, generates NA from nicotinamide (NAM) during the NAD salvage pathway. Overexpressing NIC3 enhances plant survival ratio, increases plant growth, and accumulates NA as a metabolite. The exogenous application of NA mimics the effect of NIC3 overexpression. The fundamental biological potential of NA can be used to prime plants not only for better survival under drought stress conditions but also for increasing plant productivity.