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Special Issue "Abiotic Stresses in Plants: From Molecules to Environment"

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2023 | Viewed by 1576

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Dr. Martin Bartas

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Guest Editor

Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, 710 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Interests: molecular biology; bioinformatics; plant sciences

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to publish your innovative research in this Special Issue, focusing on abiotic stresses in plants. In the modern world, there is an urgent need to broaden our knowledge of molecular mechanisms involved in abiotic stress-related responses, to facilitate the development of novel approaches in agriculture, plant-based medicine, forestry, food production, and other fields. My intention is to provide a friendly and open forum for sharing high-quality manuscripts that address every possible aspect of this complex problem. Full research papers, impactful communications, comprehensive systematic reviews, or featured opinions are particularly welcome. The main Special Issue topics are as follows:

Molecular responses to a variety of ‘classic’ abiotic stresses (drought, temperature-dependent stress, salinity, micro/macronutrient deficiency or excess, etc.);
Spectral quality of incident light affecting plant development and/or stress responses;
Nanoparticles as a new type of plant stressor;
Bioinformatic studies of proteins and/or nucleic acid structures related to abiotic stress responses in plants (docking, molecular dynamics, etc.);
miRNAs and other noncoding RNAs involved in abiotic stress in plants;
Novel methods for abiotic stress research in plants;
Age-dependent abiotic stress in plants;
Interdisciplinary approaches for abiotic stress research in plants.

Dr. Martin Bartas
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Rapid and Nondestructive Evaluation of Wheat Chlorophyll under Drought Stress Using Hyperspectral Imaging

and

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(6), 5825; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065825 - 18 Mar 2023

Viewed by 280

Abstract

Chlorophyll drives plant photosynthesis. Under stress conditions, leaf chlorophyll content changes dramatically, which could provide insight into plant photosynthesis and drought resistance. Compared to traditional methods of evaluating chlorophyll content, hyperspectral imaging is more efficient and accurate and benefits from being a nondestructive technique. However, the relationships between chlorophyll content and hyperspectral characteristics of wheat leaves with wide genetic diversity and different treatments have rarely been reported. In this study, using 335 wheat varieties, we analyzed the hyperspectral characteristics of flag leaves and the relationships thereof with SPAD values at the grain-filling stage under control and drought stress. The hyperspectral information of wheat flag leaves significantly differed between control and drought stress conditions in the 550–700 nm region. Hyperspectral reflectance at 549 nm (r = −0.64) and the first derivative at 735 nm (r = 0.68) exhibited the strongest correlations with SPAD values. Hyperspectral reflectance at 536, 596, and 674 nm, and the first derivatives bands at 756 and 778 nm, were useful for estimating SPAD values. The combination of spectrum and image characteristics (L*, a*, and b*) can improve the estimation accuracy of SPAD values (optimal performance of RFR, relative error, 7.35%; root mean square error, 4.439; R², 0.61). The models established in this study are efficient for evaluating chlorophyll content and provide insight into photosynthesis and drought resistance. This study can provide a reference for high-throughput phenotypic analysis and genetic breeding of wheat and other crops. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stresses in Plants: From Molecules to Environment)

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Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome and Low-Affinity Sodium Transport Analysis Reveals Salt Tolerance Variations between Two Poplar Trees

Gutiérrez Rodríguez Lucas

Víctor Resco de Dios

and

Yinan Yao

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(6), 5732; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065732 - 17 Mar 2023

Viewed by 349

Abstract

Salinity stress severely hampers plant growth and productivity. How to improve plants’ salt tolerance is an urgent issue. However, the molecular basis of plant resistance to salinity still remains unclear. In this study, we used two poplar species with different salt sensitivities to conduct RNA-sequencing and physiological and pharmacological analyses; the aim is to study the transcriptional profiles and ionic transport characteristics in the roots of the two Populus subjected to salt stress under hydroponic culture conditions. Our results show that numerous genes related to energy metabolism were highly expressed in Populus alba relative to Populus russkii, which activates vigorous metabolic processes and energy reserves for initiating a set of defense responses when suffering from salinity stress. Moreover, we found the capacity of Na⁺ transportation by the P. alba high-affinity K+ transporter1;2 (HKT1;2) was superior to that of P. russkii under salt stress, which enables P. alba to efficiently recycle xylem-loaded Na⁺ and to maintain shoot K⁺/Na⁺ homeostasis. Furthermore, the genes involved in the synthesis of ethylene and abscisic acid were up-regulated in P. alba but downregulated in P. russkii under salt stress. In P. alba, the gibberellin inactivation and auxin signaling genes with steady high transcriptions, several antioxidant enzymes activities (such as peroxidase [POD], ascorbate peroxidase [APX], and glutathione reductase [GR]), and glycine-betaine content were significantly increased under salt stress. These factors altogether confer P. alba a higher resistance to salinity, achieving a more efficient coordination between growth modulation and defense response. Our research provides significant evidence to improve the salt tolerance of crops or woody plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stresses in Plants: From Molecules to Environment)

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Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Analysis of microRNAs and Their Target Genes in Dongxiang Wild Rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) Responding to Salt Stress

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Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(4), 4069; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24044069 - 17 Feb 2023

Viewed by 511

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a staple food for more than half of the world’s population, and its production is critical for global food security. Moreover, rice yield decreases when exposed to abiotic stresses, such as salinity, which is one of the most detrimental factors for rice production. According to recent trends, as global temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, more rice fields may become saltier. Dongxiang wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff., DXWR) is a progenitor of cultivated rice and has a high tolerance to salt stress, making it useful for studying the regulatory mechanisms of salt stress tolerance. However, the regulatory mechanism of miRNA-mediated salt stress response in DXWR remains unclear. In this study, miRNA sequencing was performed to identify miRNAs and their putative target genes in response to salt stress in order to better understand the roles of miRNAs in DXWR salt stress tolerance. A total of 874 known and 476 novel miRNAs were identified, and the expression levels of 164 miRNAs were found to be significantly altered under salt stress. The stem-loop quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) expression levels of randomly selected miRNAs were largely consistent with the miRNA sequencing results, suggesting that the sequencing results were reliable. The gene ontology (GO) analysis indicated that the predicted target genes of salt-responsive miRNAs were involved in diverse biological pathways of stress tolerance. This study contributes to our understanding of DXWR salt tolerance mechanisms regulated by miRNAs and may ultimately improve salt tolerance in cultivated rice breeding using genetic methods in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stresses in Plants: From Molecules to Environment)

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