New Insights into Plant Signaling Mechanisms in Biotic and Abiotic Stress, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 1647

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
Interests: abiotic stress; structural biology; ion channels; bioactive compounds/diabetes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38451, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea
Interests: antimicrobial agents; synergistic effects; nanoparticles; essential oils; secondary metabolites; plant extracts; bacteria; fungi; viruses; multidrug resistance; microorganisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants are constantly challenged by their environments, including both biotic and abiotic stress factors. As a result, plants have developed complex signaling pathways in response to various challenges, allowing them to adapt and survive. In order to detect and react to pathogen attacks, herbivore feeding, and symbiotic interactions in the case of biotic stress, plants use a complex network of signaling molecules, including phytohormones, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and secondary metabolites. These signaling cascades cause the activation of systemic acquired resistance, the synthesis of antimicrobial chemicals, the reinforcement of physical barriers, and genes involved in defense. When plants are exposed to abiotic stress, such as drought, extreme temperatures, salinity, and nutrient deficiencies, they use different signaling pathways to adapt. Abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene, jasmonic acid (JA), calcium ions, and other signaling molecules are involved in these pathways. These signaling molecules coordinate cellular responses such as stomatal closure, osmotic correction, and the activation of stress-responsive genes. Understanding the mechanisms of plant signaling networks involved in biotic and abiotic stress responses is essential for developing crop plants that are resilient to changing environmental conditions. This Special Issue aims to attract contributions to developing our understanding of the mechanisms involved in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress.

We invite scholars to submit original research articles and reviews that make substantial advances within this field.

Dr. Hamdy Kashtoh
Prof. Dr. Kwang-Hyun Baek
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • abiotic stress
  • biotic stress
  • drought stress
  • salt stress
  • bacterial immunity
  • guard cell
  • anion channel
  • protein kinases
  • calcium signaling
  • abscisic acid signaling
  • hight signaling
  • nitrogen fixa-tion
  • phosphorylation
  • plant nutrients
  • receptors
  • signal transduction
  • stress
  • nutrition
  • calcium
  • membrane transport
  • Arabidopsis thaliana
  • ion homeostasis combination

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

31 pages, 6501 KB  
Review
From Hormones to Harvests: A Pathway to Strengthening Plant Resilience for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
by Dipayan Das, Hamdy Kashtoh, Jibanjyoti Panda, Sarvesh Rustagi, Yugal Kishore Mohanta, Niraj Singh and Kwang-Hyun Baek
Plants 2025, 14(15), 2322; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14152322 - 27 Jul 2025
Viewed by 1547
Abstract
The worldwide agriculture industry is facing increasing problems due to rapid population increase and increasingly unfavorable weather patterns. In order to reach the projected food production targets, which are essential for guaranteeing global food security, innovative and sustainable agricultural methods must be adopted. [...] Read more.
The worldwide agriculture industry is facing increasing problems due to rapid population increase and increasingly unfavorable weather patterns. In order to reach the projected food production targets, which are essential for guaranteeing global food security, innovative and sustainable agricultural methods must be adopted. Conventional approaches, including traditional breeding procedures, often cannot handle the complex and simultaneous effects of biotic pressures such as pest infestations, disease attacks, and nutritional imbalances, as well as abiotic stresses including heat, salt, drought, and heavy metal toxicity. Applying phytohormonal approaches, particularly those involving hormonal crosstalk, presents a viable way to increase crop resilience in this context. Abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellins (GAs), auxin, cytokinins, salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene, and GA are among the plant hormones that control plant stress responses. In order to precisely respond to a range of environmental stimuli, these hormones allow plants to control gene expression, signal transduction, and physiological adaptation through intricate networks of antagonistic and constructive interactions. This review focuses on how the principal hormonal signaling pathways (in particular, ABA-ET, ABA-JA, JA-SA, and ABA-auxin) intricately interact and how they affect the plant stress response. For example, ABA-driven drought tolerance controls immunological responses and stomatal behavior through antagonistic interactions with ET and SA, while using SnRK2 kinases to activate genes that react to stress. Similarly, the transcription factor MYC2 is an essential node in ABA–JA crosstalk and mediates the integration of defense and drought signals. Plants’ complex hormonal crosstalk networks are an example of a precisely calibrated regulatory system that strikes a balance between growth and abiotic stress adaptation. ABA, JA, SA, ethylene, auxin, cytokinin, GA, and BR are examples of central nodes that interact dynamically and context-specifically to modify signal transduction, rewire gene expression, and change physiological outcomes. To engineer stress-resilient crops in the face of shifting environmental challenges, a systems-level view of these pathways is provided by a combination of enrichment analyses and STRING-based interaction mapping. These hormonal interactions are directly related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action). This review emphasizes the potential of biotechnologies to use hormone signaling to improve agricultural performance and sustainability by uncovering the molecular foundations of hormonal crosstalk. Increasing our understanding of these pathways presents a strategic opportunity to increase crop resilience, reduce environmental degradation, and secure food systems in the face of increasing climate unpredictability. Full article
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