The role of invasive plant species in drought resilience in agriculture: the example of sweet briar (Rosa rubiginosa L.).

Rosa rubiginosa, also called sweet briar, belongs to the group of wild growing roses. Under natural conditions, it prevails throughout Europe, though the species was introduced also to the Southern Hemisphere, where it efficiently adapted to dry lands. This review focuses on the high adaptation potential of sweet briar to soil drought in the context of global climatic changes, especially considering steppe-formation and desertification of agricultural, orchard and horticultural areas. We provide a comprehensive overview of current knowledge on sweet briar traits associated with drought tolerance and particularly: water use efficiency, sugar and CO2 accumulation, stomata conductance, gibberellin level, effective electron transport between PSII and PSI, and accumulation of proteins responsible for photosynthetic fixation of CO2. We discuss the genetics and potential applications in plant breeding and suggest future directions of studies concerning invasive populations of R. rubiginosa. Finally, we point out that sweet briar can provide new genes for breeding in the context of depleting gene pool of the crop plants.