This book is made of three sections. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION 1 - Dehydration Responsive Factor 1 (TdDRF1) gene: molecular analyses under greenhouse conditions in some drought tolerant durum wheat and triticale cultivars. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION 2 - Evaluation of the expression levels of TdDRF1 transcripts in drought tolerant and susceptible durum wheat cultivars in a field trial under full and reduced irrigation conditions. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION 3 - Cloning of the three TdDRF1 transcripts in transient expression vectors.