Approaches in Enhancing Antioxidant Defense in Plants

Dear Colleagues,

As a sessile organism, plants always face various abiotic and biotic stresses which are major threats to sustainable crop production and the most important obstacle for attaining food security. In addition to their many detrimental effects, they lead to oxidative stress through the overaccumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). A certain steady-state of ROS (¹O₂, O2^•−, H₂O₂, and ^•OH) is maintained by properly balancing the generation and elimination of ROS through finely regulating a defense system in plants. Plants primarily deal with oxidative stress through their own defensive mechanism, which consists of different enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Non-enzymatic antioxidants include ascorbic acid (AsA), glutathione (GSH), phenolic compounds, alkaloids, α-tocopherol, non-protein amino acids, etc. These molecules either scavenge or detoxify ROS and confer stress tolerance in plants. In recent decades, plenty of research has focused on the role of different non-enzymatic antioxidants in the mitigation of oxidative stress, and the results of these studies are being applied to crop plants. In this Special Issue, we aim at publishing research articles and reviews on research focused on antioxidant defense, which will serve as a foundation for plant oxidative stress tolerance.

Prof. Dr. Masayuki Fujita
Prof. Dr. Mirza Hasanuzzaman
Guest Editor

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