Natural variation in abiotic stress and climate change responses in Arabidopsis: Implications for twenty-first-century agriculture

Twenty-first-century agriculture faces the challenges of providing sufficient calories and nutrients to feed a growing human population despite climate change, increasing competition for freshwater from human and industrial use, and limited arable land. This review summarizes current knowledge concerning quantitative trait loci (QTL) and natural allelic variants in Arabidopsis that regulate tolerance of abiotic stresses associated with population pressure and climate change, including rising temperatures and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, drought, salinity, and mineral ion limitation and toxicity. Examples of genetic variation underlying phenotypic plasticity of abiotic stress responses are also discussed. Given the extensive resources available in Arabidopsis for QTL analysis and genome-wide association studies, along with unparalleled information on gene/gene product functions and interactions, this reference plant species provides powerful resources for translational biology approaches to improve stress tolerance and yield in crop species.