Controlling a plant’s stress tolerance can have a significant effect on agriculture worldwide. At the University of California, Riverside, plant cell biologist Sean Cutler found that a naturally produced stress hormone in plants called abscisic acid, or ABA, helps plants survive by inhibiting their growth in times of stress, like drought.

"We came at this from a chemical perspective and my lab now is working on trying to improve these chemicals and create new sorts of options for controlling stress tolerance in the field."

As California faces its worst drought in history – Cutler’s research couldn’t come at a better time. While there’s still more work to be done, earlier this year his lab tested a reengineered version of ABA and were able to revive tomato plants that went 12 days without water. Plants without the reengineered receptor died.

"We certainly can’t claim that we’ve solved the problem, but a lot of people in this field believe that this particular molecule and its pathway is critical to moving forward in that area."