Yang Yang ^1* Jianbo Li ² Liang Chen ³

• ¹ Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, China
• ² Plant Breeding Institute, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Cobbitty, Australia
• ³ State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

Global climate change, which includes drought, extreme temperatures, and adverse soil conditions such as salinity and heavy metal pollution, has had a profound impact on crop yields and quality, thereby posing a substantial threat to global food security Notwithstanding the fact that a multitude of strategies and significant genes involved in plants' responses to abiotic stress have been reported in both model and non-model plants through the application of these advanced techniques, thereby augmenting our comprehension of the mechanisms underlying the abiotic stress tolerance of major crops, there still exist lacunae in knowledge. We instituted the research topic "Advances in crop breeding for abiotic stress tolerance" with the objective of bridging these gaps. Analyzing the responses of various crops to abiotic stress, especially identifying the relatively conserved metabolic pathways or important homologous genes in different species, is of crucial importance for the improvement of stress resistance breeding in important crops. In this research topic, the U-box, Dof, Di19, bZIP, and LLRLK gene families have been identified as potentially involved in the response process of crops to abiotic stress in different species. Multiple pathways related to transcriptional regulation, hormone regulation, energy metabolism, and secondary metabolite synthesis have also been found to be closely associated with abiotic stress. The interactions among these pathways/genes may be crosstalk, synergistic, or antagonistic, all of which have a certain impact on the abiotic stress resistance of crops. In the future, more advanced technologies and analytical strategies need to be further utilized to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular responses of crops to abiotic stress and ultimately promote the breeding improvement of crop stress resistance.