DREB1C: Connecting Dots Between Water- and Nitrogen-Use Efficiency to Climate-Smart Crop Development

Abstract

Complex traits like water use efficiency (WUE) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) are directly associated with crop yield and their stress-tolerant capacity. For developing climate-smart crops, it is crucial to identify new targets for capitalizing the benefits of WUE and NUE. However, understanding the molecular mechanism of WUE and NUE and their coordination with stress mitigation/signalling pathways are complicated. A multi-stress responsive transcription factor, Dehydration-Responsive Element Binding Protein 1C (DREB1C) has recently been recognized as a key component of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and yield in rice. Our data mining bioinformatic analysis suggest that DREB1C may be involved in signaling pathways of different hormones such as abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene, gibberellin (GA), and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Our investigation also indicates that DREB1C is involved in various stress mitigation and signaling pathways, including drought, salt, cold, anaerobic environments, phosphorous starvation, and response to the rice blast fungus. Furthermore, repository data suggests that DREB1C may also be involved in morpho-physiological processes by controlling genes such as small subunits of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase, chlorophyll A/B binding protein, and protochlorophyllide reductase. Taken together, we emphasize the role of DREB1C in responding to climate-driven episodes of combined stress, with particular emphasis on to two broad-spectrum traits: WUE and NUE. In this short synthetic review, we make an effort to highlight the underlying connections of DREB1C with plants’ responses to drought and limited nitrogen conditions and emphasize its potential for future climate-smart breeding programs.