High temperature stress responses and wheat: Impacts and alleviation strategies

Abstract

Over the past century, the average surface temperature and recurrent heatwaves have been steadily rising, affecting the yield potential of most food crops including bread wheat, the second most important caloric source, but is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of elevated temperatures. Significantly, the past decade has witnessed tremendous advancements in multiomics approaches to extract the key regulators that influence the adaptive responses to high temperature stress (HTS). With the help of genetic engineering technologies, transgenic wheat plants have been developed showing resistance to HTS without hampering productivity. In this review, we described the effect of rising temperature at a global scale and the drastic impacts on crops, particularly on wheat production. Also, this review is focused on accomplishing a deeper understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of HTS responses of crop plants, wheat in particular along with current strategies and technologies to generate thermotolerant varieties. Collective strategy and identified thresholds of HTS tolerance and susceptibility will contribute to the value-added modelling of wheat growth and yield under predictable future climate conditions.