About this Research Topic

Background

The adverse effects of abiotic stresses on plants, including crops, is a growing and pressing problem across the globe. The topic is particularly timely nowadays due to climate change and associated weather extremes such as heat waves, drought, flooding and heavy precipitation. In addition, the yield and quality of crop plants is affected by general global change including man-made factors such as novel xenobiotics or change of land use.

Fortunately, plants can detect unfavorable conditions and adjust to environmental changes. The cellular and developmental plasticity of plants enables them to adapt to changing conditions and leads to the improvement of their productivity under sub-optimal environmental conditions. Gaining better insight into plant responses to abiotic stresses is crucial to develop methods for enhanced crop production and elaborate strategies designed to improve global food security.

The goal of this Research Topic is to summarize and to improve insights into plant responses to abiotic stress factors on various levels – stress sensing, transduction of stress signal, activation of defense mechanisms, modulation of metabolism, transcriptomics, proteomic and epigenetic changes. This can be achieved through up-to-date research articles and reviews presenting novel ideas or comprehensive insights into specific areas of plant stress sensing. True progress will only be achieved with the development of methodology and technology, so manuscripts on methods and tools around stress sensing, signaling and response are also appreciated.

Gaining deeper insights into stress sensing and stress response is essential for society to develop methods for the improvement crop productivity and quality under current and predicted environmental challenges.

Research articles as well as reviews presenting novel insights or novel ideas in the area of plant stress sensing are welcomed. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• identification and/or description of the role of receptors engaged in stress sensing
• structural complexes for interface formation between phytohormone signaling, plant development and stress factor perception
• the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cellular redox homeostasis
• gasotransmitter molecules, e.g. nitric oxide (NO), ethylene, carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), and carbon dioxide (CO2) as powerful internal defence system in plants
• central role of heat shock factors (HSFs) in the plant heat stress response by regulating heat shock proteins (HSPs)
• tropisms related to the avoidance of unfavorable conditions
• the involvement of specific transcription factors in plants stress responses
• proteomic and/or transcriptomic changes induced by stress factors
• the gene regulatory role of epigenetic and epitranscriptomic modifications
• Mechanisms of priming and cross-tolerance in plants
• new methods and tools applied in the area of plant stress sensing

Keywords: stress signaling, climate change, cellular plasticity, crop production, food security, stress sensing, transcriptomics, stress signals

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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