Biotic and Abiotic Stress Effects on Plant Structure and Physiology 2024

Dear Colleagues,

Plants are subjected to a wide range of environmental stresses, which can be either of biotic or abiotic nature. Abiotic stress includes radiation, salinity, floods, drought, extremes in temperature, heavy metals, etc. On the other hand, attacks by various pathogens, such as fungi, bacteria, oomycetes, nematodes, and herbivores, are included in biotic stresses. As plants are sessile in nature, they are unable to escape from these environmental hazards. Therefore, plants have developed various mechanisms to overcome these potential life-threatening environmental conditions. Plant responses are largely dependent on the tissue or organ affected. They sense the external stress, get stimulated and then generate appropriate cellular responses that are reflected in the plant organ’s structural changes. The stimuli received from the sensors located on the cell surface or cytoplasm are transferred to the transcriptional machinery situated in the nucleus, with the help of various signal transduction pathways. The signaling pathways act as a connecting link and play an important role in sensing the stress and generating an appropriate biochemical and physiological response. There is an urgent need for a change of focus in plant stress research, in order to understand the nature of multiple stress responses and to create avenues for developing plants that are resistant to multiple stresses yet maintain high yields. This Special Issue focuses on the effects of biotic and abiotic stress interactions in plants, with an emphasis on elucidating the molecular/cellular/physiological mechanisms or even any morphological/anatomical adaptations involved. We encourage novices and experienced scientists to contribute original research papers and reviews on the effects of any environmental pressures on plants. Contributions at the organism, cellular, molecular, and -omic levels are highly welcome.

Dr. Kosmas Haralampidis
Dr. Ioannis-Dimosthenis Adamakis
Guest Editors

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• environmental extremes
• pollutants
• pathogens
• oxidative stress
• gene regulation
• structural integrity
• adaptations