How plants adapt to drought (IMAGE) Norwegian University of Science and Technology Caption The illustration shows how plants adapt to drought. The hormone THE1 helps keep the cell walls intact. Drought can damage the walls, and the research group discovered that THE1 regulates the various defence mechanisms triggered by drought. The researchers were able to manipulate these mechanisms, identify naturally existing plants where the regulatory mechanism is particularly active, and breed new crop varieties that can cope better with the changes Credit NTNU Usage Restrictions Only for use in association with articles about this research License Original content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.