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Abstract Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and intensity of abiotic stress combinations that negatively impact plants and pose a serious threat to crop yield and food supply. Plants respond to episodes of stress combination by activating specific physiological and molecular responses, as well as by adjusting different metabolic pathways, to mitigate the negative effects of the stress combination on plant growth, development, and reproduction. Plants synthesize a wide range of metabolites that regulate many aspects of plant growth and development, as well as plant responses to stress. Although metabolic responses to individual abiotic stresses have been studied extensively in different plant species, recent efforts have been directed at understanding metabolic responses that occur when different abiotic factors are combined. In this review we examine recent studies of metabolomic changes under stress combination in different plants and suggest new avenues for the development of stress combination-resilient crops based on metabolites as breeding targets.
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Signal transduction networks during stress combination
Abstract Episodes of heat waves combined with drought can have a devastating impact on agricultural production worldwide. These conditions, as well as many other types of stress combinations, impose unique physiological and developmental demands on plants and require the activation of dedicated pathways. Here, we review recent RNA sequencing studies of stress combination in plants, and conduct a meta-analysis of the transcriptome response of plants to different types of stress combination. Our analysis reveals that each different stress combination is accompanied by its own set of stress combination-specific transcripts, and that the response of different transcription factor families is unique to each stress combination. The alarming rate of increase in global temperatures, coupled with the predicted increase in future episodes of extreme weather, highlight an urgent need to develop crop plants with enhanced tolerance to stress combination. The uniqueness and complexity of the physiological and molecular response of plants to each different stress combination, highlighted here, demonstrate the daunting challenge we face in accomplishing this goal. Dedicated efforts combining field experimentation, omics, and network analyses, coupled with advanced phenotyping and breeding methods, will be needed to address specific crops and particular stress combinations relevant to maintaining our future food chain secured.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1932639
- PAR ID:
- 10252515
- Editor(s):
- Lawson, Tracy
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Experimental Botany
- Volume:
- 71
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0022-0957
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1734 to 1741
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erz486
