Recent projections on ongoing climate change indicate the progressive deterioration of environmental conditions. All of this will have a significant impact on the life of plants, whether they grow in natural or anthropized environments. The repercussions are likely to be considerable in terms of ecosystems and agriculture. Combined with the foreseeable increase in the world's population and the intensive exploitation of natural resources, this poses several issues concerning the protection of plants and the maintenance of their biological and productive activities. Polyamines are small flexible, organic polycations, involved in stress and developmental processes in plants. In recent years, genetic and molecular evidence points to polyamines as essential metabolites required for resistance to drought, high and low temperature, salinity, oxidative stress among other types of abiotic and biotic stresses. In addition to their role as stress-protective compounds, polyamines participate in key developmental processes mediated by specific signaling pathways or in cross-regulation with other plant hormones.

There is clearly a need to identify solutions that can allow plants to remain active and functioning even in precarious environmental conditions. These solutions can be multiple, from the selection of new varieties or cultivars to the identification of distinct genetic traits, up to the characterization of molecules whose contribution may be significant in this context. Given that polyamines are now generally considered “plant protectors,” the aim of the Research Topic is to focus on and review the role of polyamines in the survival of plants in conditions of stress - both abiotic and biotic. The goal of the Research Topic is to identify the biochemical, cellular, and genetic processes which polyamines take part in, that can allow better and increased adaptation of plants to adverse environmental conditions.

This Research Topic aims to highlight the most recent breakthroughs in plant responses and adaptation/tolerance strategies. In particular, this topic explores the advanced toolkit and technologies that are used to investigate and understand the roles of polyamines in plant responses to stress. This topic will encourage contributions from scientists with expertise in different disciplines investigating the molecular roles, both general and compound-specific, of distinct polyamines, their conjugation and catabolism derivatives, and downstream signaling molecules, in the control of plant growth, development and plant responses to unfavorable or even adverse environmental conditions.

We welcome submissions of all article types published by Frontiers in Plant Science that contribute to the following themes:

• Molecular mechanisms of plant immunity triggered by polyamines.
• Field deployment of direct and indirect plant defense triggered by polyamines.
• Potential applications of polyamines in crop protection against environmental stresses.
• Potential applications of polyamines in crop protection against pathogens infection.
• Mechanisms of stress perception, signal translation mediated by polyamines.
• Molecular roles of distinct polyamines and their conjugation and catabolism derivatives.
• Applications of plant polyamines in molecular, biochemical, and physiological responses to abiotic stresses.
• Protective effects of polyamines to enhance stress tolerance of plants.

Please note: Frontiers in Plant Science does not accept solely descriptive studies - studies that report responses to treatments and descriptive reports of ‘Omics studies will not be considered if they do not progress biological understanding of these responses.

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