The earth is experiencing a faster change in climate in
the 21st century than it had in the past. Abiotic
stresses such as drought and salinity, exacerbated by
the fast changing climatic conditions pose a major
hurdle in sustaining crop productivity. Developing
crop plants able to yield better under abiotic stresses
offer hope in this situation. Understanding abiotic
stress-tolerance mechanisms in a plant system is crucial
to improve the stress tolerance. The present
review discusses broad molecular mechanisms of plant
abiotic stress tolerance and outlines the latest biotechnological
advances aiding plant abiotic stress research,
with particular reference to the work carried out at
the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. The advantages
of using extremophilesas model organisms
(as conceptualized by M. S. Swaminathan) for identification
of novel genetic combinations and understanding
stress tolerance are discussed here.