The research advances about plant dehydrin, including its protein structure, its celluar localization and mechanism of action, the transgenic research of dehydrin under biotic or abiotic stresses, the phosphorylation modifications of dehydrin, and the biological roles of dehydrin (metal ions binding, reactive oxygen species scavenging and protection of chill sensitive enzymatic activity as molecular chaperones), were reviewed. Meanwhile, the prospect of applying dehydrin to improve the tolerance of plants against stresses by biotechnology was expected. The research tendencies about dehydrin in the future, such as its mechanism of action, its function of gene family, and its correlation with biotic stresses were proposed. |