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Molecular Mechanisms and Omics Approaches in Plant Stress Tolerance

A special issue of Current Issues in Molecular Biology (ISSN 1467-3045). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 582

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Interests: abiotic and biotic stress; plant defence; drought; heavy metal stress; antioxidants; gene expression; glutathione s-transferase; plant hormones; transgenic plants; transciptome analysis; rice; arabidopsis; confocal microscopy; ICP-MS
Plants for Human Health Institute, North Carolina State University, 600 Laureate Way, Kannapolis, NC 28081, USA
Interests: plant physiology; plant stress biology; genomics; transcriptome; bioinformatics; abiotic stress response; plant domestication; bioactive-metabolite biosynthesis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Abiotic and biotic factors play a significant role in influencing plant growth and development, prompting plants to develop mechanisms for stress tolerance. These stresses ranged from drought, salinity, and temperature extremes to pathogen infection and nutrient limitation, triggering intricate molecular responses at morphological, physiological, and molecular levels that determine stress resilience. While substantial progress has been made in identifying stress-responsive genes and pathways, a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms that coordinate plant defense and adaptation remains incomplete.

The current Special Issue entitled “Molecular Mechanisms and Omics Approaches in Plant Stress Tolerance” aimed to gather research focused on unraveling molecular basis of biotic/abiotic stress perception, signaling, and tolerance in plants utilizing multi-omics approaches. We welcome studies that employ integrative approaches such as transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, and systems biology to decipher regulatory networks underlying stress responses. We especially encourage contributions that investigate gene regulation at multiple levels (transcriptional, post-translational), highlighting candidate genes/proteins characterization through methods such as overexpression, gene silencing, or CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing to improve stress resilience. By bridging classical molecular biology with next-generation omics and biotechnological innovations, this issue seeks to provide new insights into stress adaptation mechanisms with potential applications in crop improvement, resilience breeding, and sustainable agriculture.

Dr. Dipali Srivastava
Dr. Romit Seth
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • environmental stress
  • gene regulation
  • transcriptomics
  • molecular pathways
  • stress tolerance
  • genetic engineering
  • CRISP
  • molecular biology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 2662 KB  
Article
Integrated Metabolomics and Targeted Gene Expression Profiling Reveal the Arginine–Anthocyanin Axis in Pomegranate Aril Paleness Disorder
by Mehdi Rezaei, Parviz Heidari and Stefanie Reim
Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 2026, 48(2), 225; https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb48020225 - 20 Feb 2026
Viewed by 345
Abstract
Aril paleness (AP) is a new physiological disorder of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) characterized by pale, dry and tasteless arils, while the peel remains healthy-looking. Its molecular basis is unknown. We used an integrated metabolomic and targeted gene expression approach on arils [...] Read more.
Aril paleness (AP) is a new physiological disorder of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) characterized by pale, dry and tasteless arils, while the peel remains healthy-looking. Its molecular basis is unknown. We used an integrated metabolomic and targeted gene expression approach on arils from four Iranian cultivars displaying no to severe AP symptoms. LC-MS profiling detected 617 reliable metabolites, with 266 metabolites consistently reduced in all symptomatic samples. Enrichment analysis revealed that arginine biosynthesis, glutathione metabolism and primary amino acid metabolism were the processes most strongly affected by AP. Protein interaction network analysis indicated that the arginine degradation pathway is the primary down-regulated module that interacts with the anthocyanin biosynthetic machinery, primarily through phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) hubs. Based on this network, seven genes representing both pathways were selected for targeted expression analysis. The qPCR analysis showed strong repression of arginase (PgADS, XM-031537872), aldehyde dehydrogenase (PgAL12A1, XM-031551051) and anthocyanin synthase (PgOXKF, KF841619.1) in the cultivar ‘Torud’ exhibiting severe AP symptoms compared with the symptom-free cultivar ‘Damavand’. In contrast, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PgPAL1, KY094504.2) was unexpectedly induced 33-fold in the cultivar ‘Torud’, while the downstream anthocyanin-related UDP-glucosyltransferase (PgUGT, MK058491.1) remained unchanged. These findings suggest that the collapse of arginine metabolism, combined with the downstream blockage of anthocyanin biosynthesis, underlies AP. These findings provide the first molecular insights into the mechanisms underlying AP, offering a basis for breeding and post-harvest strategies aimed at enhancing pomegranate’s AP tolerance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Mechanisms and Omics Approaches in Plant Stress Tolerance)
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