Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.0
3.4
Journals
Life
Special Issues
Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses
share announcement

Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 March 2026 | Viewed by 5372

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Dawei Shi

E-Mail
Guest Editor
College of Life Science, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Long Pan Road, Nanjing, China
Interests: plant physiology; abiotic stresses; photosynthesis; omics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Changes in global climate have profound impacts on human survival and at the same time exacerbate abiotic stresses on plants. Abiotic stresses can severely limit plant productivity, and common abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, cold, and flooding have profound effects on plant growth and survival. Adaptation and tolerance to such stresses involve complex perception, signaling, and stress response mechanisms. By studying the physiological responses of plants under abiotic stresses, we can provide a basis for the selection of good plant germplasm resources and the breeding of new varieties.

To solve the problem of plant growth and survival in suboptimal environments, it is necessary for us to carry out research work related to abiotic stress in plants. This Special Issue of Life, titled “Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses”, aims to bring together original research articles and review papers related to this topic. Revealing stress tolerance mechanisms in plants opens up new avenues for the application of biotechnology in agriculture and forestry. The ultimate goal is to lay the foundation for advancing stress tolerance breeding in agricultural crops as well as woody and horticultural plants.

Dr. Dawei Shi
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. Life 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 2600 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

  • crops
  • woody plants
  • horticultural plants
  • physiological responses
  • abiotic stresses
  • photosynthesis

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review, Other

11 pages, 638 KB  
Communication
Millet in Bioregenerative Life Support Systems: Hypergravity Resilience and Predictive Yield Models
by Tatiana S. Aniskina, Arkady N. Kudritsky, Olga A. Shchuklina, Nikita E. Andreev and Ekaterina N. Baranova
Life 2025, 15(8), 1261; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15081261 - 7 Aug 2025
Viewed by 464
Abstract
The prospects for long-distance space flights are becoming increasingly realistic, and one of the key factors for their implementation is the creation of sustainable systems for producing food on site. Therefore, the aim of our work is to assess the prospects for using [...] Read more.
The prospects for long-distance space flights are becoming increasingly realistic, and one of the key factors for their implementation is the creation of sustainable systems for producing food on site. Therefore, the aim of our work is to assess the prospects for using millet in biological life support systems and to create predictive models of yield components for automating plant cultivation control. The study found that stress from hypergravity (800 g, 1200 g, 2000 g, and 3000 g) in the early stages of millet germination does not affect seedlings or yield. In a closed system, millet yield reached 0.31 kg/m2, the weight of 1000 seeds was 8.61 g, and the yield index was 0.06. The paper describes 40 quantitative traits, including six leaf and trichome traits and nine grain traits from the lower, middle and upper parts of the inflorescence. The compiled predictive regression equations allow predicting the accumulation of biomass in seedlings on the 10th and 20th days of cultivation, as well as the weight of 1000 seeds, the number of productive inflorescences, the total above-ground mass, and the number and weight of grains per plant. These equations open up opportunities for the development of computer vision and high-speed plant phenotyping programs that will allow automatic correction of the plant cultivation process and modeling of the required yield. Predicting biomass yield will also be useful in assessing the load on the waste-free processing system for plant waste at planetary stations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2905 KB  
Article
Water Stress Is Differently Tolerated by Fusarium-Resistant and -Susceptible Chickpea Genotypes During Germination
by Ümmühan Kaşıkcı Şimşek, Murat Dikilitas, Talap Talapov and Canan Can
Life 2025, 15(7), 1050; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15071050 - 30 Jun 2025
Viewed by 361
Abstract
Chickpea is a legume that grows in most parts of the world. It is negatively affected by abiotic and biotic factors like drought and fungal diseases, respectively. One of the most important soil-borne pathogens affecting chickpeas is Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris (Foc [...] Read more.
Chickpea is a legume that grows in most parts of the world. It is negatively affected by abiotic and biotic factors like drought and fungal diseases, respectively. One of the most important soil-borne pathogens affecting chickpeas is Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris (Foc). Its population dynamics in the soil are affected by fluctuations in soil water content and host characteristics. For the last three decades, drought has been common in most areas of the world due to global warming. Drought stress decreases the quality and quantity of the chickpeas, particularly where soil-borne pathogens are the main stress factor for plants. The use of both drought-tolerant and disease-resistant cultivars may be the only option for cost-effective yield production. In this study, we screened the seeds of twelve chickpea genotypes WR-315, JG-62, C-104, JG-74, CPS-1, BG-212, ANNIGERI, CHAFFA, BG-215, UC-27, ILC-82, and K-850 for drought tolerance at increasing polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentrations (0-, 5-, 7.5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, 30- and 50%) to create drought stress conditions at different severities. The performances of genotypes that were previously tested in Foc resistance/susceptibility studies were assessed in terms of percentage of germination, radicle and hypocotyl length, germination energy, germination rate index, mean germination time, and vigor index in drought conditions. We determined the genotypes of C-104, CPS-1, and WR-315 as drought-susceptible, moderately drought-tolerant, and drought-tolerant, respectively. We then elucidated the stress levels of selected genotypes (20-day-old seedlings) at 0–15% PEG conditions via measuring proline and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. Our findings showed that genotypes that were resistant to Foc also exhibited drought tolerance. The responses of chickpea genotypes infected with Foc under drought conditions are the next step to assess the combined stress on chickpea genotypes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 3366 KB  
Article
The Expression Profile of Genes Related to Carotenoid Biosynthesis in Pepper Under Abiotic Stress Reveals a Positive Correlation with Plant Tolerance
by Tingli Wang, Qiaoyun He, Chenyuan Wang, Zhimin Li, Shitao Sun, Xiai Yang, Xiushi Yang, Yanchun Deng and Chunsheng Hou
Life 2024, 14(12), 1659; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14121659 - 13 Dec 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1353
Abstract
In light of the increasingly adverse environmental conditions and the concomitant challenges to the survival of important crops, there is a pressing need to enhance the resilience of pepper seedlings to extreme weather. Carotenoid plays an important role in plants’ resistance to abiotic [...] Read more.
In light of the increasingly adverse environmental conditions and the concomitant challenges to the survival of important crops, there is a pressing need to enhance the resilience of pepper seedlings to extreme weather. Carotenoid plays an important role in plants’ resistance to abiotic stress. Nevertheless, the relationship between carotenoid biosynthesis and sweet pepper seedlings’ resistance to different abiotic stresses remains uncertain. In this study, the carotenoid content in abiotic-stressed sweet pepper seedling roots was determined, revealing that carotenoid content was extremely significantly elevated by more than 16-fold under salt stress, followed by drought stress (8-fold), and slightly elevated by only about 1-fold under waterlogging stress. After that, serine/threonine-protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) was found to be the suitable reference gene (RG) in sweet pepper seedling roots under different abiotic stresses by using RT-qPCR and RefFinder analysis. Subsequently, using PP2A as the RG, RT-qPCR analysis showed that the expression level of most genes associated with carotenoid biosynthesis was extremely significantly up-regulated in sweet pepper seedlings under salt and drought stress. Specifically, violoxanthin deepoxidase (VDE) was significantly up-regulated by more than 481- and 36-fold under salt and drought stress, respectively; lycopene epsilon cyclase (LCYE) was significantly up-regulated by more than 840- and 23-fold under salt and drought stress, respectively. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway serving as a major source of retrograde signals in pepper subjected to different abiotic stresses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research, Other

27 pages, 1463 KB  
Review
Antioxidant Defense Systems in Plants: Mechanisms, Regulation, and Biotechnological Strategies for Enhanced Oxidative Stress Tolerance
by Faustina Barbara Cannea and Alessandra Padiglia
Life 2025, 15(8), 1293; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15081293 - 14 Aug 2025
Viewed by 573
Abstract
Plants must contend with oxidative stress, a paradoxical phenomenon in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause cellular damage while also serving as key signaling molecules. Environmental stressors, such as drought, salinity, and temperature extremes, promote ROS accumulation, affecting plant growth and productivity. [...] Read more.
Plants must contend with oxidative stress, a paradoxical phenomenon in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause cellular damage while also serving as key signaling molecules. Environmental stressors, such as drought, salinity, and temperature extremes, promote ROS accumulation, affecting plant growth and productivity. To maintain redox homeostasis, plants rely on antioxidant systems comprising enzymatic defenses, such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase, and non-enzymatic molecules, including ascorbate, glutathione, flavonoids, and emerging compounds such as proline and nano-silicon. This review provides an integrated overview of antioxidant responses and their modulation through recent biotechnological advances, emphasizing the role of emerging technologies in advancing our understanding of redox regulation and translating molecular insights into stress-resilient phenotypes. Omics approaches have enabled the identification of redox-related genes, while genome editing tools, particularly those based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins, offer opportunities for precise functional manipulation. Artificial intelligence and systems biology are accelerating the discovery of regulatory modules and enabling predictive modeling of antioxidant networks. We also highlight the contribution of synthetic biology to the development of stress-responsive gene circuits and address current regulatory and ethical considerations. Overall, this review aims to provide a comprehensive perspective on molecular, biochemical, and technological strategies to enhance oxidative stress tolerance in plants, thereby contributing to sustainable agriculture and food security in a changing climate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research, Review

18 pages, 2653 KB  
Systematic Review
Morpho-Physiological Adaptations of Rice Cultivars Under Heavy Metal Stress: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
by Esmeth C. Espinola, Monica Maricris N. Cabreros and Mark Christian Felipe R. Redillas
Life 2025, 15(2), 189; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15020189 - 27 Jan 2025
Viewed by 2105
Abstract
Soil contamination, including in rice fields, arises from a variety of natural processes and anthropogenic activities, leading to an accumulation of heavy metals. While extensive research has addressed the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in rice, only limited systematic reviews have examined their specific [...] Read more.
Soil contamination, including in rice fields, arises from a variety of natural processes and anthropogenic activities, leading to an accumulation of heavy metals. While extensive research has addressed the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in rice, only limited systematic reviews have examined their specific impact on the morpho-physiological traits of rice plants. This review aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis of current studies detailing the rice cultivars, types of heavy metals investigated, study designs, sampling locations, and experimental sites while systematically analyzing the morphological and physiological responses of rice cultivars to heavy metal stress. Studies show that morphological traits generally exhibit a decline under heavy metal exposure. Physiologically, rice cultivars tend to show decreased total chlorophyll and carotenoid levels, along with increased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and proline. These findings suggest that plant genotype, type of heavy metal, and intensity of stress significantly modulate the morphological and physiological responses of rice, highlighting critical areas for further research in heavy metal stress tolerance in rice cultivars. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiological Responses of Plants Under Abiotic Stresses)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop