Crop Responses and Adaptations to Environmental Stresses: New Insights and Approaches

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Genetics, Genomics and Breeding".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 November 2025 | Viewed by 1974

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
R&D Department, 3A Biotech, 30565 Las Torres de Cotillas, Murcia, Spain
Interests: stress tolerance; crop sciences; abiotic stress; molecular biology; plant biotechnology; bioinformatics; metagenomics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, climate change and environmental degradation have intensified the frequency and severity of the abiotic and biotic stresses affecting crop systems worldwide. Understanding how crops respond and adapt to these environmental challenges is a central question in plant science and agricultural innovation. Historically, research has focused on individual stressors, but current efforts are shifting toward integrated approaches that consider complex and simultaneous stress interactions.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in our understanding of the physiological, molecular, and genetic responses of crops to various environmental stresses—including drought, salinity, heat, cold, flooding, and pest pressures. Emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary research that links fundamental mechanisms with applied strategies to improve crop resilience and productivity.

We invite contributions that explore novel insights into plant signaling pathways, stress-responsive gene networks, microbiome interactions, phenotyping technologies, and breeding or biotechnological approaches aimed at enhancing stress tolerance. Studies that include omics tools, systems biology, modeling, or field-based validations are particularly welcome.

Original research articles, reviews, and opinion pieces that provide a forward-looking perspective on the adaptation of crops to a changing environment will form the backbone of this Special Issue. Our goal is to provide a platform for cutting-edge research that bridges knowledge gaps and supports the development of sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.

Dr. Alvaro Lopez-Zaplana
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • abiotic stress
  • biotic stress
  • plant adaptation
  • crop physiology
  • molecular responses
  • stress tolerance
  • climate change

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4412 KB  
Article
DNA Methylation and mRNA Exon Sequence Variations in the Salt Stress Adaptation of Paspalum vaginatum
by Youhao Wei, Qing Zhu, Xinyi Zheng, Zhiyong Wang and Minqiang Tang
Agriculture 2025, 15(17), 1875; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15171875 - 3 Sep 2025
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Abstract
Background: DNA methylation, as an epigenetic modification, is crucial in the regulatory mechanism of salt resistance in plants. Methods: To gain deeper insight into the relationship between DNA methylation and mRNA exons in halophytes and their potential roles in regulating salt tolerance, this [...] Read more.
Background: DNA methylation, as an epigenetic modification, is crucial in the regulatory mechanism of salt resistance in plants. Methods: To gain deeper insight into the relationship between DNA methylation and mRNA exons in halophytes and their potential roles in regulating salt tolerance, this study employed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and transcriptome sequencing data to analyze the leaves of the halophyte Paspalum vaginatum, widely distributed in tropical regions. Results: The findings revealed that the methylation level of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in the genomic elements of P. vaginatum increased with prolonged salt treatment under salt stress conditions. This observation suggested that the methylation level plays a pivotal role in the salt stress response of P. vaginatum. Notably, under salt stress, the number of variants at the mRNA exon level was significantly higher than that at the DNA level. Furthermore, comparative analysis revealed sequence variants within exonic regions of mature mRNA transcripts for several genes in salt-treated samples relative to pre-stress controls, and these changes were found to be enriched in several salt-tolerance pathways, including unsaturated fatty acid metabolism and ascorbic acid metabolism, among others. Further analysis demonstrated that the occurrence of these variants changed concomitantly with the dynamic changes in CG methylation levels in the gene body of some salt-tolerant genes. Therefore, it was speculated that mRNA exon variations probably promoted the elevation of CG 5mC methylation levels at the DNA level under salt stress conditions, further enabling the plant to adapt to the salt-stress environment. Conclusions: These findings offer preliminary insights into the relationship between DNA methylation and mRNA exon variations in P. vaginatum under salt stress, providing valuable information and avenues for further investigation into the regulatory role of mRNA in DNA methylation. Full article
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14 pages, 2881 KB  
Article
Nano-Titanium Dioxide Regulates the Phenylpropanoid Biosynthesis of Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) and Alleviates the Growth Inhibition Induced by Polylactic Acid Microplastics
by Lisi Jiang, Wenyuan Li, Yuqi Zhang, Zirui Liu, Yangwendi Yang, Lixin Guo, Chang Guo, Zirui Yu and Wei Fu
Agriculture 2025, 15(14), 1478; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15141478 - 11 Jul 2025
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Abstract
Nano-titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) can alleviate oxidative damage in plants subjected to abiotic stress, interfere with related gene expression, and change metabolite content. Polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics can inhibit plant growth, induce oxidative stress in plant cells, and alter the biophysical properties [...] Read more.
Nano-titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) can alleviate oxidative damage in plants subjected to abiotic stress, interfere with related gene expression, and change metabolite content. Polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics can inhibit plant growth, induce oxidative stress in plant cells, and alter the biophysical properties of rhizosphere soil. In this study, untargeted metabolomics (LC-MS) and RNA-seq sequencing were performed on radish root cells exposed to nano-TiO2 and PLA. The results showed that nano-TiO2 alleviated the growth inhibition of radish roots induced by PLA. Nano-TiO2 alleviated PLA-induced oxidative stress, and the activities of SOD and POD were decreased by 28.6% and 36.0%, respectively. A total of 1673 differentially expressed genes (DEGs, 844 upregulated genes, and 829 downregulated genes) were detected by transcriptome analysis. Metabolomics analysis showed that 5041 differential metabolites were involved; they mainly include terpenoids, fatty acids, alkaloids, shikimic acid, and phenylpropionic acid. Among them, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis as well as flavone and flavonol biosynthesis were the key metabolic pathways. This study demonstrates that nano-TiO2 mitigates PLA phytotoxicity in radish via transcriptional and metabolic reprogramming of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. These findings provide important references for enhancing crop resilience against pollutants and underscore the need for ecological risk assessment of co-existing novel pollutants in agriculture. Full article
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Review

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17 pages, 656 KB  
Review
Ethylene-Triggered Rice Root System Architecture Adaptation Response to Soil Compaction
by Yuxiang Li, Bingkun Ge, Chunxia Yan, Zhi Qi, Rongfeng Huang and Hua Qin
Agriculture 2025, 15(19), 2071; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15192071 - 2 Oct 2025
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Abstract
Soil compaction is a major constraint on global agriculture productivity. It disrupts soil structure, reduces soil porosity and fertility, and increases mechanical impedance, thereby restricting root growth and crop yield. Recent studies on rice (Oryza sativa) reveal that the phytohormone ethylene [...] Read more.
Soil compaction is a major constraint on global agriculture productivity. It disrupts soil structure, reduces soil porosity and fertility, and increases mechanical impedance, thereby restricting root growth and crop yield. Recent studies on rice (Oryza sativa) reveal that the phytohormone ethylene serves as a primary signal and functions as a hub in orchestrating root response to soil compaction. Mechanical impedance promotes ethylene biosynthesis and compacted soil impedes ethylene diffusion, resulting in ethylene accumulation in root tissues and triggering a complex hormonal crosstalk network to orchestrate root system architectural modification to facilitate plant adaptation to compacted soil. This review summarizes the recent advances on rice root adaptation response to compacted soil and emphasizes the regulatory network triggered by ethylene, which will improve our understanding of the role of ethylene in root growth and development and provide a pathway for breeders to optimize crop performance under specific agronomic conditions. Full article
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