About this Research Topic

Background

Plants are continuously exposed to adverse environmental conditions, including water shortage, extreme temperature, heavy metal, and salinity stress. These factors substantially affect the plants’ growth and development. Among abiotic stresses, drought stress has shown the most profound impact on crop yield and agricultural productivity, especially in semi-arid and arid areas. Moreover, climate change has dramatically increased the frequency, duration, and severity of drought in many agro-environments. As the global temperature increases and the worldwide population grows, the scarcity of water resources in agriculture may aggravate crop loss. Moreover, soil salinity is a major constraint for crop production worldwide, particularly on agricultural land close to the sea, and more areas are expected to deteriorate in the coming years because of global climate changes. Looking ahead, new strategies are strongly sought to improve crop tolerance to drought and salt stress and to develop more resilient crop varieties.

Plants have developed several morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms to overcome water shortage and soil salinization. Some of these mechanisms are shared among plant species, whereas others are species-specific. At the molecular level, water limiting conditions and high salinity shape the expression of responsive genes in different plant tissues and organs. Several pathways are commonly activated in response to these environmental constraints since both drought and high salinity impose osmotic stress on plants. The combined use of the latest molecular and genomics technologies, multi-omics approaches, and improved in silico analyses has recently allowed the discovery of several molecular mechanisms involved in the plant response to osmotic stress. Nevertheless, many aspects are still unresolved. While the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the response to water deficit and high salinity has significantly improved in model plants, the identification of the molecular mechanisms and gene regulatory networks involved in stress response and tolerance in crops remains challenging. It is still largely unknown which genes regulate water and salt stress responses in crops and how they interact at the molecular level within a specific organ and among different organs. A better understanding of these complex mechanisms is crucial to design new strategies for developing tolerant crops. In this issue, we aim to explore the latest advances in the field of gene regulatory networks involved in the molecular response to water, salt or osmotic stresses in crops, with particular attention to the identification of novel molecular hubs such as key transcription factors and related pathways that modulate stress tolerance in specific crops.

This Research Topic seeks contributions focused on the understanding of the gene regulatory networks involved in the response to water, salt or osmotic stresses in crops using molecular and genomics technologies as well as multi-omics and systems biology approaches. Particularly welcome are studies that link molecular data with physiological and biochemical analyses to identify specific stress response pathways. Authors are invited to submit original research, reviews/mini-reviews, methods, and opinion articles related to:

o Molecular responses of crop species to water, salt or osmotic stresses at single cell or whole plant level
o Gene networks and transcriptomic maps of response to water, salt or osmotic stresses in different plant organs
o Identification of transcription factors and related regulatory pathways involved in acquiring stress tolerance
o Analysis of physiological and biochemical pathways modulated by specific gene networks under water shortage or high salt conditions
o Stress perception mechanisms and activation of downstream genes
o Comparative analyses of genotypes with different responses to water, salt or osmotic stresses
o Genetic engineering and genome editing approaches to develop water or salt stress tolerance in crops

Keywords: Drought stress, Water stress, Crop yield, Molecular response, Gene networks, Genetic engineering, Genome editing

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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