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Biomolecules
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Plant Molecular Stress Physiology—Elucidation of Plant Responses and Defense Mechanisms...
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Plant Molecular Stress Physiology—Elucidation of Plant Responses and Defense Mechanisms Against Stress

A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 June 2026 | Viewed by 1380

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hakim Manghwar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiujiang 332000, China
Interests: plant molecular biology; plant stress physiology; plant resistance to different stresses; plant genome editing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on the topic of plant molecular stress physiology focuses on the complex molecular and physiological responses of plants to various biotic (e.g., fungi, bacteria, viruses, insects) and abiotic (e.g., drought, cold, heat, salinity, heavy metals, ultraviolet radiation) stresses. These stresses significantly impair plant health and threaten agricultural output.

Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to perceive stress signals and mount rapid responses by regulating various pathways, involving complex signaling networks and gene expression changes. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms in plant stress responses is crucial for enhancing plant resilience.

Advances in genomic and biotechnological tools have enabled the identification of key regulatory genes and pathways, offering opportunities for breeding or engineering stress-tolerant plants. The Special Issue features original research articles and comprehensive reviews exploring the responses of plants to different stresses, their molecular mechanisms, and adaptation/tolerance strategies. It also presents advanced toolkits and technologies for investigating plant stress responses, aiming to translate these insights into practical agricultural applications.

Dr. Hakim Manghwar
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant stress responses
  • biotic and abiotic stresses
  • molecular mechanisms of plant stress
  • plant defense mechanisms
  • stress tolerance in plants
  • signaling pathways in plant stress
  • gene-expression changes under stress
  • genomic tools for plant stress research
  • biotechnological approaches for stress-tolerant plants
  • adaptation strategies of plants to stress
  • physiological changes in plants under stress
  • crop resilience to stress
  • horticultural plant stress physiology
  • stress-related signaling molecules in plants
  • practical agricultural applications of stress research

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 4495 KB  
Article
Physiological and Transcriptomic Analysis of Bread Wheat MicroRNAs in Response to Zinc Availability
by Shuhan Sun, Yanlong He, Peng Chen, Cheng Chang and Lingyao Kong
Biomolecules 2026, 16(1), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom16010075 - 2 Jan 2026
Viewed by 329
Abstract
Zinc (Zn) is a mineral micronutrient that is essential for plant growth and development. Soil Zn deficiency or excess severely impacts plant health and crop yields. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in plant responses to abiotic stress, but their roles in Zn homeostasis [...] Read more.
Zinc (Zn) is a mineral micronutrient that is essential for plant growth and development. Soil Zn deficiency or excess severely impacts plant health and crop yields. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in plant responses to abiotic stress, but their roles in Zn homeostasis in important crop bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) remain unknown. This study investigated miRNA expression profiles in wheat roots under different Zn supply conditions using high-throughput sequencing. Phenotypic and physiological analyses revealed that high Zn promoted wheat plant growth, while low and excess Zn resulted in wheat plant growth inhibition and oxidative stress. A total of 798 miRNAs (including 70 known and 728 novel miRNAs) were identified; among them, 10 known and 122 novel miRNAs were differentially expressed. Many key miRNAs, such as miR397-5p, miR398, 4D_25791, and 5A_27668, are up-regulated under low Zn but down-regulated under high Zn and excess Zn. Target gene prediction and enrichment analysis revealed that the regulated genes of these miRNAs focused on “zinc ion transmembrane transporter activity”, “divalent inorganic cation transmembrane transporter activity”, and “cellular detoxification” processes in the low Zn vs. CK group. However, “glutathione metabolism” and “ABC transporter” pathways were obviously enriched in high Zn vs. excess Zn conditions, implying their potential functions in alleviating the oxidative damage and Zn efflux caused by Zn toxicity. Together, this study identified key miRNAs that respond to both Zn deficiency and excess Zn in bread wheat, revealing distinct regulatory patterns of the target genes in different Zn supply conditions. These findings provide a new field and valuable candidate miRNAs for molecular breeding aimed at improving zinc’s utilization efficiency in wheat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Molecular Stress Physiology—Elucidation of Plant Responses and Defense Mechanisms Against Stress)
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21 pages, 23671 KB  
Article
Integrative Physiological, Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Analyses Uncover the Mechanisms Underlying Differential Responses of Two Anubias Genotypes to Low-Temperature Stress
by Yanyu Luo, Liguo Wei, Weiguang Liu, Jiwei Chen, Jinzhong Zhang, Zhijian Yang, Shaoli Huang and Yiwei Zhou
Biomolecules 2025, 15(11), 1520; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom15111520 - 28 Oct 2025
Viewed by 595
Abstract
Anubias (Araceae) is a globally important group of ornamental aquatic plants. However, when temperatures drop to 10 °C, most species suffer obvious frostbite from cold stress, restricting winter cultivation and broader application. This study focused on two Anubias genotypes with distinct cold tolerance, [...] Read more.
Anubias (Araceae) is a globally important group of ornamental aquatic plants. However, when temperatures drop to 10 °C, most species suffer obvious frostbite from cold stress, restricting winter cultivation and broader application. This study focused on two Anubias genotypes with distinct cold tolerance, adopting an integrated approach combining phenotypic, physiological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic analyses to reveal the mechanisms underlying their differential cold tolerance. Under 10 °C cold stress, compared with normal temperatures, the leaves of cold-tolerant Anubias sp. ‘Long Leaf’ (Jian) showed no significant frostbite, while cold-sensitive Anubias barteri var. nana ‘Coin Leaf’ (Jin) had clear frost damage. Both genotypes exhibited increased leaf relative electrical conductivity, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, soluble sugar content, and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT); “Jian” had more notable rises in SOD/CAT activities and maintained higher levels, whereas “Jin” showed greater increases in conductivity, MDA, and soluble sugar. Metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed “Jian” specifically upregulated metabolites in pathways like flavone and flavonol biosynthesis and tryptophan metabolism, as well as genes related to valine, leucine, isoleucine degradation and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways. ERFs, WRKYs, NACs and other transcription factors correlated with these differentially expressed genes, suggesting potential transcriptional regulation. These results provides insights for breeding cold-tolerant Anubias and optimizing low-temperature cultivation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Molecular Stress Physiology—Elucidation of Plant Responses and Defense Mechanisms Against Stress)
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