Plant Metabolic Responses to Stress Resistance

Dear Colleagues,

Plants offer solutions to several important challenges facing society like food security for growing populations, mitigation of climate change, and loss of global biodiversity. Plant metabolism holds the key to tackling these challenges by functioning as “green chemical factories”. The remarkable metabolic diversity that plants have evolved through colonizing myriad environments represents promising, yet uncharted, territory to improve plant resilience.

Plants produce over a million metabolites, which are traditionally grouped into primary and secondary (or general and specialized) metabolites. Primary metabolites are essential for basic cell function and are largely conserved in all organisms, while secondary metabolites are involved in specific environmental interactions, for example providing resilience to environmental stresses, and typically show lineage specificity. However, recent studies suggest that some metabolites have roles in both primary and secondary metabolism, which challenges this classical organization of metabolism. The interconnectedness of primary and secondary metabolism is further demonstrated by the derivation of many secondary metabolites from precursors in primary metabolism.

This special issue aims to expand on this developing understanding of the role of metabolism in plant responses against environmental challenges, which we anticipate will be key for improving the climate resilience of agriculture, forestry, and natural ecosystems.

Dr. Kangmei Zhao
Dr. Ian Major
Dr. Weichao Huang
Guest Editors

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