The present invention is in the field of plant breeding and drought tolerance. More specifically, the invention includes a method for breeding corn plants containing one or more markers that are associated with tolerance to low water conditions. Markers provided herein include markers genetically linked to proteins comprising cold shock domains, such as the CSD1 and CSD2 proteins. The invention further includes germplasm and the use of germplasm containing at least one marker associated with drought tolerance for introgression into elite germplasm in a breeding program, thus producing drought resistant germplasm. Other embodiments of this invention include transgenic drought tolerant corn plants and corn plant cells, and methods of detecting drought tolerance genes and chromosome regions associated with drought tolerance in a plant genome.