Environmental and other external factors
such as low temperature, drought, salt and microbes result in
massive crop yield losses. Research aimed to understand the
mechanism of the plant tolerance of environmental stresses has
the potential to greatly benefit world agriculture. Agricultural
Plant Stress Research Center (APSRC) funded by the Ministry
of Science and Technology (MOST) and Korea Science and Engineering
Foundation (KOSEF) aims to enhance the genetic potential for
increasing the crop yield as yet unrealized. To meet the food
demand for ever increasing human population of the world, multidisciplinary
research at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels
is needed to improve agronomic and horticultural plant systems.
There are 20 active scientists from various universities and
other research organizations in Korea working within APSRC.
The Members are divided into three research groups : stress
signal perception and transduction, regulation of stress-responsive
gene expression and mechanism of stress tolerance. The other
important objectives of the APSRC are to train future scientists
to meet the challenge of feeding a growing world population
on a rapidly diminishing acreage of arable land in the face
of global climate changes, and to exchange scientific information
by organizing seminars and symposia.
Financial support provided by MOST and KOSEF for up to 9 years
will greatly accelerate our understanding of the mechanism of
plant resistance to environmental stresses. We expect that the
research contributions made by the APSRC in the environmental
stress physiology will greatly help improve crop productivity
in the near future.
