Chromatin regulation functions in plant abiotic stress responses.

Plants respond and adapt to drought, cold and high-salinity stress in order to survive. Molecular and genomic studies have revealed that many stress-inducible genes with various functions and signalling factors, such as transcription factors, protein kinases and protein phosphatases, are involved in the stress responses. Recent studies have revealed the coordination of the gene expression and chromatin regulation in response to the environmental stresses. Several histone modifications are dramatically altered on the stress-responsive gene regions under drought stress conditions. Several chromatin-related proteins such as histone modification enzymes, linker histone H1 and components of chromatin remodeling complex influence the gene regulation in the stress responses. This review briefly describes chromatin regulation in response to drought, cold and high-salinity stress.