Table 1.

List of representative stress-tolerant crops developed by genetic modification (GM). OE: overexpression; TSE: tissue-specific expression; COE: co-overexpression.

Crop	GM	Promoter	Gene	Details of the gene	Source	Tolerance trait	Physiological benefit in response to stress	Reference
Barley	OE	35S	AtAVP1	H+-pyrophosphatase	Arabidopsis	Salt	In field, higher grain yield and higher shoot biomass	[431]
Rice	OE	Maize Ubi1	AtHsp101	Chaperone	Arabidopsis	Heat	Better growth performance in the recovery phase following the stress	[384]
Rice	OE	Maize Ubi1	TaMBF1c	MBF TF	Wheat	Heat	Tolerance during both vegetative and reproductive stages	[369]
Rice	OE	Maize Ubi1	OsRab7	Small GTP-binding protein	Rice	Heat	Higher yield	[432]
Rice	OE		SNAC3	NAC TF	Rice	Heat, drought	Better survival rate	[433]
Rice	COE	Tissue-specific or stress-dependent	otsA and otsB (Fusion)	Trehalose biosynthetic genes	E. coli	Salt, cold, drought	Sustained plant growth, less photo-oxidative damage, and more favourable mineral balance	[386]
Rice	OE	ABA-inducible promoter	SAMDC	S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase	Tritordeum	Salt	Increased seedling growth	[434]
Rice	OE	35S	P5CS	Proline synthesis gene	Vigna aconitifolia	Salt	Wild type died after 10 days of salt stress whereas, even after 4 weeks of stress transgenics were capable of flowering and seed-setting	[435]
Rice	OE	35S	PpENA1	Na+ pumping ATPase	Physcomitrella patens	Salt	Higher biomass production	[436]
Rice	CE	35S (pyramiding)	SaSRP3-1, SaVHAc1	Salt Responsive Protein 3-1, Vacuolar H+-ATPase subunit c1	Spartina alterniflora	Salt	Higher grain yield weight, and improved shoot and root growth	[437]
Rice	OE	35S	Gly I, Gly II	Glyoxalase pathway genes	Brassica, Rice	Multiple stress	High shoot and root biomass	[438]
Rice	OE	Native promoter	SNAC1	NAC TF	Rice	Drought	In field 22–34% higher seed setting (stress during reproductive stage)	[368]
Rice	OE	Stress-inducible rd29A promoter	AtDREB1A	AP2/ERF TF	Arabidopsis	Drought	Tolerant during both the vegetative and reproductive stages	[391]
Rice	TSE	Root specific RCc3 promoter	OsERF71	AP2/ERF TF	Rice	Drought	23% to 42% higher grain yield over WT or whole-body OE transgenic lines	[370]
Rice	OE	PGD1	OsNAC14	NAC TF	Rice	Drought	In field higher number of panicle and filling rate	[439]
Rice	OE	Rice Actin1P/LEA3-1P (stress inducible)	NPK1	MAPKKK	Tobacco	Drought	In field higher seed setting rate	[374]
Rice	OE	Rice Actin1P/LEA3-1P (stress inducible)	SOS2	Serine/threonine kinase	Arabidopsis	Drought	In field higher seed setting rate	[374]
Rice	OE	rice Actin1P/LEA3-1P (stress inducible)	AtDREB1A	AP2/ERF TF	Arabidopsis	Drought	In field higher seed setting rate	[374]
Rice	OE	Rice Actin1P/LEA3-1P (stress inducible)	Zat10	C2H2-EAR zinc finger	Rice	Drought	In field higher seed setting rate	[374]
Rice	OE	Rice Actin1P/LEA3-1P (stress inducible)	LOS5	Molybdenum cofactor sulfurase	Arabidopsis	Drought	In field higher seed setting rate	[374]
Rice	OE	Rice Actin1P	AtNHX1	Na+/H+ antiporter	Arabidopsis	Drought	In field higher seed setting rate	[374]
Rice	OE	Maize Ubi1	OsbZIP23	bZIP TF	Rice	Salt, drought	Better growth	[440]
Rice	RNAi	Maize Ubi1	SQS	Squalene synthase	Maize	Drought	14–39% higher yield	[441]
Rice	OE		OsSKIPa	Rice homolog of human Ski-interacting protein	Rice	Drought	Resistant at both vegetative and reproductive stages	[442]
Rice	OE	2X35S	OsLEA3-2	Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins	Rice	Salt, drought	Stronger growth performance, recovery after 20 days of drought stress	[443]
Rice	OE	35S, drought inducible promoter	OsLEA3-1	Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins	Rice	Drought	Higher relative yield (yield under drought stress treatment/yield under normal growth conditions)	[383]
Rice	OE	35S	OsIF	Intermediate filament	Rice	Heat, salt	Maintenance of yield	[444]
Rice	OE	Maize Ubi1	OsMYB55	MYB TF	Rice	Heat	Lesser yield reduction	[445]
Rice	COE	35S	OsbZIP46CA1, SAPK6	bZIP TF, ABA-Activated Protein Kinase	Rice	Drought, cold, heat	Higher yield, biomass, spikelet number, and grain number	[446]
Rice	OE	35S	RGB1	Beta subunit of G protein	Rice	Heat, salt	Higher germination rate, root length, shoot length and plant height	[447]
Rice	OE	Promoter of Rca-a from Oryza meridionalis	Rubisco activase	Rubisco activase	Oryza australiensis	Heat	Higher yield (stress during vegetative stage)	[448]
Rice	COE	Rice Cab promoter	Rubisco, Rubisco activase	Rubisco, Rubisco activase	Rice, maize	Heat	Higher biomass and improved photosynthesis	[449]
Rice	OE	Actin	miRNA319	miRNA	Rice	Cold	Increased leaf width and vein number, and better acclimation	[378]
Rice	OE	35S	TERF2	AP2/ERF TF	Tomato	Cold	Better survival rate	[450]
Rice	OE		COLD1	Regulator of G-protein signalling	Rice	Cold	Enhanced chilling tolerance	[451]
Rice	OE	Ubiquitin	MYBS3	MYB TF	Rice	Cold	In field no yield penalty	[452]
Rice	OE	Ubiquitin	OsMYB3R-2	MYB TF	Rice	Cold	Higher cold resistance, higher levels of proline	[453]
Rice & Tomato (small fruit species)	OE	35S	ERECTA	LRR-RLK	Arabidopsis	Heat	Increased biomass and yield	[454]
Rice	OE		OsMADS57	MADS-box TF	Rice	Cold	Maintenance rice tiller growth	[455]
Wheat	OE	Ubiquitin	betA	Choline dehydrogenase	E. coli	Salt	In field higher grain yields, more tillers, and higher germination rates	[456]
Wheat	OE	pIND	HaHB4 (mutated)	Homeodomain-leucine zipper I family gene	Helianthus annus	Drought	In field higher spikelet numbers per spike, tillers per plant, and fertile florets per plant	[457]
Wheat	OE	Barley Dhn8s	TaHsfC2a	HSF TF	Wheat	Heat	Enhanced thermotolerance	[458]
Wheat	OE	Maize Ubi1	TaFER-5B	Ferritin gene	Wheat	Heat	Enhanced stress tolerance	[459]
Wheat	OE	Hordein B1 promoter	HvSUT1	Sucrose Transporter	Barley	Heat	Better performance for many yield-related traits and enhanced sucrose transport	[460]
Wheat	OE	Maize Ubi1	EF-Tu	Elongation factor	Maize	Heat	Reduced heat injury to photosynthetic membranes (thylakoids), and enhanced rate of CO2 fixation	[461]
Wheat	OE	Drought inducible Barley HVA1s	Hsf6a	HSF TF	Wheat	Heat	Enhanced thermotolerance	[462]
Wheat	OE	35S	AtWRKY30	WRKY TF	Arabidopsis	Heat, drought	Improved biomass and photosynthesis	[463]
Maize	OE	Rd29A	ZmbZIP4	bZIP TF	Maize	Salt, drought	Enhanced root development and ABA synthesis	[464]
Maize	CRISPR	Maize GOS2	ARGOS8	Negative regulator of ethylene signalling	Maize	Drought	In field increased grain yield by five bushels per acre (stress exposure during flowering)	[465]
Maize	OE	35S	NPK1	MAPKKK	Tobacco	Drought	No yield loss under stress	[375]
Maize	OE	Novel promoter	LOS5	Molybdenum cofactor sulfurase	Arabidopsis	Drought	Increased root system development and biomass yield after re-watering	[466]
Maize	OE	Maize Ubi1	OsMYB55	MYB TF	Rice	Heat, drought	Higher plant biomass and reduced leaf damage	[467]
Cotton	OE		AhCMO	Choline monooxygenase	Atriplex hortensis	Salt	Higher seed yield	[385]
Cotton	COE		AtNHX1, AtAVP1	Na+/H+ antiporter, H+-pyrophosphatase	Arabidopsis	Salt, drought	24% and 35% higher fibre yield under low-irrigation and dryland conditions, respectively	[468]
Cotton	OE	35S	AtAVP1	H+-pyrophosphatase	Arabidopsis	Salt, drought	In field 20% higher yield under dry-land conditions	[469]
Cotton	OE	35S	GhDof1	DOF TF	Cotton	Salt, cold	Higher oil content and reduced protein in seeds	[470]
Tomato	CE	35S	PgNHX1, AVP1	Na+/H+ antiporter, H+-pyrophosphatase	Pennisetum glaucum, Arabidopsis	Salt	Better survival rate	[471]
Tomato	OE	35S	SbNHXLP	Na+/H+ antiporter-like protein	Sorghum bicolor	Salt	Higher fruit yield	[381]
Tomato	OE		APX (cytosolic)	Ascorbate peroxidase	Pea	Heat	Enhanced tolerance to heat stress in lab and field	[382]
Tomato	OE	35S	SAMDC	S-adenosyl-l-methionine decarboxylase	Saccharomyces cerevisiae	Heat	Improved the efficiency of CO2 assimilation	[472]
Tomato	OE	35S	ShDHN	Dehydrin	Wild tomato	Cold, drought	Better survival rate	[473]
Tomato	OE	Stress inducible AtRd29A	BoCRP1	Novel cold-responsive protein1	Brassica oleracea	Cold	Higher seed germination, increased root length, reduced membrane damage and increased accumulation of osmo-protectants	[474]
Tomato	OE	35S	LeCOR413PM2	Cold-regulated gene	Tomato	Cold	Reduced damage to cell membrane, accumulation of ROS, and photoinhibition of PSII, but also maintain high activity of antioxidant enzymes and content of osmotic regulators	[475]