review · Frontiers in Plant Science
Climate change continues to worsen drought conditions, posing significant challenges to crop yields worldwide. The wild watermelon thrives in the harsh Kgalagadi desert despite low rainfall, intense heat, sandy soils, and severe water deficits. Its ability to endure such environments stems from a combined set of physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms rather than isolated traits. Key physiological strategies include robust root system growth, prompt stomatal closure, and chlorophyll fluorescence quenching during water shortages. At the molecular and biochemical levels, the plant accumulates citrulline and activates specific tolerance genes, including chloroplast APX and Type-2 metallothionein, which are governed by upstream transcription factors. Notably, several of these biochemical markers and gene responses also correspond to salinity tolerance observed in other plant species.
Rising temperatures and prolonged dry periods threaten food production globally. Understanding the natural defence mechanisms of desert-adapted plants reveals biological indicators and gene networks that assist survival under extreme water scarcity. Identifying shared pathways between drought and salinity responses provides vital clues for breeding or engineering hardier crops capable of growing in changing, degraded climates.
The insights could inform plant breeders and agricultural biotechnology developers seeking genetic targets or biochemical markers, such as citrulline and specific transcription factors, to breed stress-resilient crops. However, this work is early-stage review research synthesizing existing literature, so practical applications in commercial crop development remain at a foundational, pre-applied stage.
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Climate change has escalated the effect of drought on crop production as it has negatively altered the environmental condition. Wild watermelon grows abundantly in the Kgalagadi desert even though the environment is characterized by minimal rainfall, high temperatures and intense sunshine during growing season. This area is also characterized by sandy soils with low water holding capacity, thus bringing about drought stress. Drought stress affects crop productivity through its effects on development and physiological functions as dictated by molecular responses. Not only one or two physiological process or genes are responsible for drought tolerance, but a combination of various factors do work together to aid crop tolerance mechanism. Various studies have shown that wild watermelon possess superior qualities that aid its survival in unfavorable conditions. These mechanisms include resilient root growth, timely stomatal closure, chlorophyll fluorescence quenching under water deficit as key physiological responses. At biochemical and molecular level, the crop responds through citrulline accumulation and expression of genes associated with drought tolerance in this species and other plants. Previous salinity stress studies involving other plants have identified citrulline accumulation and expression of some of these genes (chloroplast APX, Type-2 metallothionein), to be associated with tolerance. Emerging evidence indicates that the upstream of functional genes are the transcription factor that regulates drought and salinity stress responses as well as adaptation. In this review we discuss the drought tolerance mechanisms in watermelons and some of its common indicators to salinity at physiological, biochemical and molecular level.
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DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1074395
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