Abiotic stress plays a major role in plant growth and its development, multiple stress elements such as drought, cold, elevated temperature, and heavy metal contamination may influence them. However, salinity is still a universal abiotic stressor that stunts plant development worldwide. During such adverse conditions, certain stress-resistant genes are upregulated, wherein dehydration responsive element binding (DREB) genes are one such class of apetala 2/ethylene responsive element binding protein which binds to dehydration responsive element (DRE)/C-repeat that can be activated by the action of abscisic acid-dependent or independent pathway. DREB genes influence the stress tolerance of various plants, the cis-element DRE present adjacent to the foremost promoter area of stress-receptive genes is where the DREB transcription factors fix osmotic stress in plants, and their subclasses DREB1 and DREB 2 are also involved in cold and dehydration stress, respectively. As per Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, salinity affects nearly 67,44,968 ha of land in India. This review focuses on salinity stress, its influence on the activation of the DREB genes, and its effect on eliciting structural and functional changes in plant development and transgenic research.
Key words: DREB, Salinity stress, DREB (Dehydration Responsive Element Binding) genes, CRT (C repeat binding factor), AP2/EREBP (Ethylene Responsive Element Binding Protein), CRE (cis-regulatory element), DRE (Dehydration Responsive Element), ABA (Abscisic Acid), ABRE (Abscisic Acid Responsive Element).
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