Tag: Abiotic Interactions

Our food crops are threatened by ever-increasing environmental challenges as a consequence of climate change. It’s critical that we develop strategies to monitor and mitigate these stresses, but it’s also a huge undertaking. A new focus issue in Physiologia Plantarum provides a set of articles that…

Roots play a critical role in determining  seedling resilience mechanisms to abiotic stress conditions. Despite advancements in the characterization of root systems at phenotypic and cellular levels, the diversity of belowground epidermal microstructures remains poorly understood, particularly prior…

This comprehensive review by Mogollón et al. would be a great starting point to help students think about the pressing challenge of feeding growing numbers of people in the face of climate change. The article begins with the impact of food production on the environment; the release of greenhouse gasses,…

Halophytes are plants that have evolved ways to adapt to high-salt environments that can be toxic to non-halophytes. Some halophytes prevent salt uptake, some sequester it in disposable bladders, and some extrude it from salt glands. In a new study, Mai et al. studied Nolana mollis, a salt-tolerant plant…

When drought strikes, plants struggle to survive. Growth slows, flowers appear too early, fruits drop prematurely, and harvests shrink. Scientists have long tried to engineer drought tolerance plants, but boosting this often comes with a hidden cost: stunted growth even when water is plentiful. This…

Drought is a major constraint on maize production, and understanding the underlying molecular regulators is key to breeding resilient varieties. Yang et al. investigated the role of the wall-associated kinase ZmWAK3 in maize seedlings and found it to be a negative regulator of drought tolerance. Loss-of-function…

Improving photosynthesis under abiotic stress is essential for enhancing crop productivity. Here, Jiang et al. used short-term accelerated evolution in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus to uncover genetic mutations that enhance photosynthesis under salt and light stress without compromising…

Most food crops are relatively intolerant to soil salinity, yet globally soils are becoming increasingly salinized. This excellent review by Raza et al. pulls together the myriad approaches that are being used to develop salinity-smart crops. It starts with an overview of how soil salinity affects crops…