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Abiotic Stress Signaling in Cereals, Especially Wheat

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 3887

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Sylvia Lindberg

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Guest Editor

Dept. of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-114 18 Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: calcium signaling; ion transport; oxygen deficiency; salt stress; stress tolerance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Dear Colleagues,

The ongoing climate changes have serious impacts on plant growth and development at molecular, cellular and organism levels. During temporary flooding or persisting high seawater levels, oxygen deficiency often occurs in the soil. Global warming will give rise to higher evaporation, resulting in dry and saline soils. Together with low precipitation, these changes might create drought, osmotic and salt stresses, as well as temperature stress encountered by plants. For the cultivation of wheat and other crops, all these stresses have serious economic effects. Wheat is a globally important cereal crop, the second most produced for human consumption.

To make plants resistant to these types of stresses through the application of genetic engineering, it is important to improve our knowledge on how plants sense stress, and how they transmit signals related to stress and improve their tolerance by physiological and metabolic adaptations. Calcium is an important second messenger for all abiotic stresses, which induce a transient or sustained Ca²⁺ increase in the cytosol. The elevation in cytosolic Ca²⁺is linked to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and abscisic acid (ABA), and leads to complex downstream reactions within the local target cell but also occurring as a result of calcium waves propagating to distal plant parts. Recent findings suggest that glutamate and other amino acids might be involved in this distal signaling, but the understanding on this matter is still scarce. Calcium signaling is also generated intracellularly in the apoplast, nucleus and other cell organelles. Knowledge on how the cytosolic and organellar signals are connected with the distal calcium fluxes is still insufficient, requiring further investigation.

Dr. Sylvia Lindberg
Guest Editor

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Keywords

abiotic stress
calcium
signaling
stress sensors
wheat

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 4323 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptional Regulation of Small Heat Shock Protein 17 (sHSP-17) by Triticum aestivum HSFA2h Transcription Factor Confers Tolerance in Arabidopsis under Heat Stress

by Ranjeet R. Kumar, Kavita Dubey, Suneha Goswami, Gyanendra K. Rai, Pradeep K. Rai, Romesh K. Salgotra, Suman Bakshi, Dwijesh Mishra, Gyan P. Mishra and Viswanathan Chinnusamy

Plants 2023, 12(20), 3598; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12203598 - 17 Oct 2023

Viewed by 917

Abstract

Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) contribute significantly to thermotolerance acclimation. Here, we identified and cloned a putative HSF gene (HSFA2h) of 1218 nucleotide (acc. no. KP257297.1) from wheat cv. HD2985 using a de novo transcriptomic approach and predicted sHSP as its potential target. The expression of HSFA2h and its target gene (HSP17) was observed at the maximum level in leaf tissue under heat stress (HS), as compared to the control. The HSFA2h-pRI101 binary construct was mobilized in Arabidopsis, and further screening of T3 transgenic lines showed improved tolerance at an HS of 38 °C compared with wild type (WT). The expression of HSFA2h was observed to be 2.9- to 3.7-fold higher in different Arabidopsis transgenic lines under HS. HSFA2h and its target gene transcripts (HSP18.2 in the case of Arabidopsis) were observed to be abundant in transgenic Arabidopsis plants under HS. We observed a positive correlation between the expression of HSFA2h and HSP18.2 under HS. Evaluation of transgenic lines using different physio-biochemical traits linked with thermotolerance showed better performance of HS-treated transgenic Arabidopsis plants compared with WT. There is a need to further characterize the gene regulatory network (GRN) of HSFA2h and sHSP in order to modulate the HS tolerance of wheat and other agriculturally important crops. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress Signaling in Cereals, Especially Wheat)

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24 pages, 3494 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Single and Combined Drought and Salinity Stress on the Root Morphological Characteristics and Root Hydraulic Conductivity of Different Winter Wheat Varieties

by Yuanyuan Fu, Penghui Li, Abdoul Kader Mounkaila Hamani, Sumei Wan, Yang Gao and Xingpeng Wang

Plants 2023, 12(14), 2694; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12142694 - 19 Jul 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1371

Abstract

Water shortages and crop responses to drought and salt stress are related to the efficient use of water resources and are closely related to food security. In addition, PEG or NaCl stress alone affect the root hydraulic conductivity (Lpr). However, the effects of combined PEG and NaCl stress on Lpr and the differences among wheat varieties are unknown. We investigated the effects of combined PEG and NaCl stress on the root parameters, nitrogen (N) and carbon content, antioxidant enzymes, osmotic adjustment, changes in sodium and potassium, and root hydraulic conductivity of Yannong 1212, Heng 4399, and Xinmai 19. PEG and NaCl stress appreciably decreased the root length (RL), root surface area (RS), root volume (RV), K⁺ and N content in shoots and roots, and Lpr of the three wheat varieties, while the antioxidant enzyme activity, malondialdehyde (MDA), osmotic adjustment, nonstructural carbon and Na⁺ content in shoots and roots, etc., remarkably remained increased. Furthermore, the root hydraulic conductivity had the greatest positive association with traits such as RL, RS, and N and K⁺ content in the shoots of the three wheat varieties. Moreover, the RL/RS directly and actively determined the Lpr, and it had an extremely positive effect on the N content in the shoots of wheat seedlings. Collectively, most of the root characteristics in the wheat seedlings decreased under stress conditions, resulting in a reduction in Lpr. As a result, the ability to transport nutrients—especially N—from the roots to the shoots was affected. Therefore, our study provides a novel insight into the physiological mechanisms of Lpr. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress Signaling in Cereals, Especially Wheat)

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Review

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44 pages, 3078 KiB

Open AccessReview

Ion Changes and Signaling under Salt Stress in Wheat and Other Important Crops

by Sylvia Lindberg and Albert Premkumar

Plants 2024, 13(1), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13010046 - 22 Dec 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1162

Abstract

High concentrations of sodium (Na⁺), chloride (Cl⁻), calcium (Ca²⁺), and sulphate (SO₄²⁻) are frequently found in saline soils. Crop plants cannot successfully develop and produce because salt stress impairs the uptake of Ca²⁺, potassium (K⁺), and water into plant cells. Different intracellular and extracellular ionic concentrations change with salinity, including those of Ca²⁺, K⁺, and protons. These cations serve as stress signaling molecules in addition to being essential for ionic homeostasis and nutrition. Maintaining an appropriate K⁺:Na⁺ ratio is one crucial plant mechanism for salt tolerance, which is a complicated trait. Another important mechanism is the ability for fast extrusion of Na⁺ from the cytosol. Ca²⁺ is established as a ubiquitous secondary messenger, which transmits various stress signals into metabolic alterations that cause adaptive responses. When plants are under stress, the cytosolic-free Ca²⁺ concentration can rise to 10 times or more from its resting level of 50–100 nanomolar. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are linked to the Ca²⁺ alterations and are produced by stress. Depending on the type, frequency, and intensity of the stress, the cytosolic Ca²⁺ signals oscillate, are transient, or persist for a longer period and exhibit specific “signatures”. Both the influx and efflux of Ca²⁺ affect the length and amplitude of the signal. According to several reports, under stress Ca²⁺ alterations can occur not only in the cytoplasm of the cell but also in the cell walls, nucleus, and other cell organelles and the Ca²⁺ waves propagate through the whole plant. Here, we will focus on how wheat and other important crops absorb Na⁺, K⁺, and Cl⁻ when plants are under salt stress, as well as how Ca²⁺, K⁺, and pH cause intracellular signaling and homeostasis. Similar mechanisms in the model plant Arabidopsis will also be considered. Knowledge of these processes is important for understanding how plants react to salinity stress and for the development of tolerant crops. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress Signaling in Cereals, Especially Wheat)

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