About this Research Topic
Abiotic stress factors such as drought, salinity, extreme temperature, UV radiation, high light, nutrient deficiency are the main reasons for the reduction of crop yields and food production worldwide. Photosynthesis is the device of crop productivity, but likewise, it is a complex process that is extremely responsive to abiotic stress with a multifaceted relationship to the growth of plants and aquatic photosynthetic organisms, such as algae and cyanobacteria. As a result of drought stress, for example, remarkable changes in growth, photosynthesis, enzymatic activities, and biomass production, occur. In plants, the decreased photosynthetic efficiency, which is linked to both stomatal and non-stomatal effects, is the result of a disruption of either biochemical or/and photochemical activity and increased oxidative damage by the surplus reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, which can harm the chloroplast, and particularly photosystem II (PSII). However, plants have developed several energetic approaches at the morphological, physiological, and biochemical levels, allowing them to avoid and/or tolerate drought stress.
Photosynthesis of food crops under environmental stress conditions has been considered to be a real challenge for scientists and crop breeders in order to fulfil the huge demand for food in the world. The fast progress of synthetic biology tools now offers new scenarios towards totally new designs of improved photosynthetic systems and adjusting photosynthesis to the increasing demands of our changing climate. Photosynthetic manipulation offers new prospects for enhancing crop yield. Therefore, detailed information on photosynthetic organism responses and a better understanding of the photosynthetic machinery to environmental stresses could help in developing new crops with higher yields. Manipulating photosynthetic organisms with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance will involve a complete understanding of ROS signaling and the regulatory functions of several other components, including secondary metabolites, transcription factors, phytohormones, and protein kinases, in the responses of photosynthetic apparatus to abiotic stress.
To meet global food and feed requirements, considering current climate change scenarios, it is essential to recognize how photosynthetic organisms respond and adapt their metabolism to abiotic stress. This Research Topic will highlight submission on the following sub-topics:
• Understanding the way photosynthetic machinery is working, and how it can be further enhanced.
• The mechanisms of the photosynthetic responses to abiotic stress and thus contribute to a better understanding of photosynthesis in plants and aquatic photosynthetic organisms under stress that can help in the development of realistic interventions for increasing agricultural productivity.
• Detecting steps or mechanisms where photosynthetic systems are suboptimal under different environmental conditions, and then optimizing these steps for best performance, which represents a key research target in present photosynthetic improvement efforts to increase the ability of crops to face climate change that influence crop production detrimentally.
Photosynthesis of food crops under environmental stress conditions has been considered to be a real challenge for scientists and crop breeders in order to fulfil the huge demand for food in the world. The fast progress of synthetic biology tools now offers new scenarios towards totally new designs of improved photosynthetic systems and adjusting photosynthesis to the increasing demands of our changing climate. Photosynthetic manipulation offers new prospects for enhancing crop yield. Therefore, detailed information on photosynthetic organism responses and a better understanding of the photosynthetic machinery to environmental stresses could help in developing new crops with higher yields. Manipulating photosynthetic organisms with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance will involve a complete understanding of ROS signaling and the regulatory functions of several other components, including secondary metabolites, transcription factors, phytohormones, and protein kinases, in the responses of photosynthetic apparatus to abiotic stress.
To meet global food and feed requirements, considering current climate change scenarios, it is essential to recognize how photosynthetic organisms respond and adapt their metabolism to abiotic stress. This Research Topic will highlight submission on the following sub-topics:
• Understanding the way photosynthetic machinery is working, and how it can be further enhanced.
• The mechanisms of the photosynthetic responses to abiotic stress and thus contribute to a better understanding of photosynthesis in plants and aquatic photosynthetic organisms under stress that can help in the development of realistic interventions for increasing agricultural productivity.
• Detecting steps or mechanisms where photosynthetic systems are suboptimal under different environmental conditions, and then optimizing these steps for best performance, which represents a key research target in present photosynthetic improvement efforts to increase the ability of crops to face climate change that influence crop production detrimentally.
Keywords: Drought stress, Salt stress, Heavy metal stress, Light stress, UV radiation, Temperature stress, Nutrient deficiency, Pathogens, Reactive oxygen species
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