Abiotic stress, especially salinity and drought is the primary cause of crop losses worldwide. Much progress has been made in unravelling the complex stress response mechanisms. The application of genetic engineering has resulted in important achievements with respect to stress tolerance. However, our knowledge of the integration of stress response pathways in cellular metabolism is a major gap in understanding stress tolerance in plants. Therefore this Gordon conference focuses on the most recent innovative research in cellular and molecular events that determine the response of plants to salinity and water deficit with particular emphasis on stress metabolism and integration of stress response pathways. The topics will cover aspects from the genome to the protein level, ranging from molecular and biochemical approaches to whole plant physiology and plant breeding. The conference will also address the question how knowledge from model plants can be transferred to crop plants.

Topics to be covered include comparative genomics, regulation of gene expression, stress related metabolic changes, structural and functional studies of stress proteins, ion homeostasis, osmosensing, novel signalling mechanisms, biotechnological approaches to improve stress tolerance and transfer of laboratory results to the field. The conference will highlight novel approaches to understand cross-talk between salt and drought stress with other environmental factors and other stressors e.g. oxidative stress.