Plants (Basel, Switzerland)Jul 15, 2026

How Flowering Time and Drought Response Are Linked in Cereal Crops

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Jul 16, 2026

Abstract

Drought events increasingly limit global agricultural productivity, affecting cereal crops' survival and reproduction.

Cereal crops utilize drought escape and drought avoidance strategies to manage environmental stress.
Core genetic hubs, including florigen regulation and DELLA proteins, play divergent roles in the interaction between flowering and drought responses.
Breeding-selected alleles, such as those from the Green Revolution, may help separate stress tolerance from developmental penalties, though trade-offs can still occur.
Internal networks influencing the crosstalk between photoperiodic flowering and drought responses involve circadian clock shifts and sugar signaling pathways.
The integration of epigenetic stress memory and targeted genetic engineering approaches could aid in developing climate-resilient crops.

Simplified

Increasingly frequent and severe drought events restrict global agricultural productivity. As sessile organisms, cereal crops have evolved phenotypic plasticity, drawing on drought escape (DE) and drought avoidance (DA) strategies to balance survival and reproduction. While the mechanisms governing photoperiodic flowering and drought responses are well characterized individually, their molecular intersection remains poorly understood. This review summarizes recent advances in the crosstalk between these two pathways. We highlight the divergent roles of core genetic hubs, such as florigen regulation, GIGANTEA (GI), DELLA proteins, and dual-function transcription factors (e.g., ZmCCT, Ghd7, Ppd-H1), and the breeding-selected alleles, including Green Revolution variants, that can partly uncouple stress tolerance from developmental penalties, though trade-offs often remain. Furthermore, we examine the internal networks driving this crosstalk, including circadian clock phase shifts, sugar and energy signaling through the trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P)-SNF1-related protein kinase 1 (SnRK1) module, and the antagonistic balance within phytohormone networks centered on abscisic acid (ABA). Finally, we propose that integrating epigenetic stress memory, systemic root-to-shoot signaling, and targeted CRISPR/Cas promoter engineering provides a useful conceptual framework for breeding climate-resilient, yield-stable crops.

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How Flowering Time and Drought Response Are Linked in Cereal Crops

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