Nitrogen: Advances in Plant Stress Research

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental stresses pose major challenges to plant growth and productivity. Different abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and nutrient stress, have a significant impact on plant physiological processes. Furthermore, contaminants such as heavy metals may compromise both environmental safety and plant metabolism. Biotic factors (e.g., pests, pathogens, and parasites) further stress plant development. Other stresses involve UV and light stresses, oxidative stress, and pesticide exposure, which also come under this research focus. Importantly, both natural and anthropogenic stressors add to the complexity of environmental challenges faced by plants. Thus, these stress factors affect the growth and adaptability of plants and add complexity to plant responses in the scenario of environmental challenge. It is therefore important to understand how plants cope with such stressors, from mechanisms and the modulation of tolerance to the mitigation of stress, in order to enhance resilient traits that will ensure agricultural sustainability and related strategies.

Nitrogen is a very important macronutrient in plants. The study of nitrogen dynamics, from uptake and transport to accumulation, provides important information on how plants cope with adverse conditions of the environment and minimize their stress effects.

This Special Issue, entitled "Nitrogen: Advances in Plant Stress Research," aims to cover new and recent insights into nitrogen metabolism interactions with plant responses to stress and the mechanisms involved. The various aspects of nitrogen dynamics in plants covered in this Special Issue range from uptake and transport to accumulation, including genetic, biochemical, molecular, and physiological mechanisms in the context of plant stress research. Research focused on exogenous nitrogen application is also relevant in order to improve plant resilience amidst growing stress challenges.

Our research focus also extends to the aspects of plant response to stresses at all levels of observation, from morphological and anatomical features through epigenetic modifications, offering a wide-ranging view of how plants adapt to stresses. We also welcome studies on stress factors separately and also the interactions between different stressors. We also invite research contributions dealing with interactions affecting the way nitrogen metabolism is modulated to ensure and/or enhance its tolerance against these stresses. We also encourage the submission of manuscripts dealing with crosstalk between two distinct types of stressor responses, as well as original research addressing the role of symbiotic associations, including that of mycorrhizal fungi and N-fixing bacteria, in enhancing N-use efficiency and stress tolerance. From crops to model plants, the Special Issue welcomes submissions on a wide range of plant species.

The Special Issue calls for original research articles, reviews, opinions, perspectives, and communications from vast groups of disciplines. Contributions related to physiological processes, molecular pathways, biochemical interactions in nitrogen metabolism, and studies concerned with the modulation given to these processes under stress conditions are encouraged. Scientific works using approaches based on emerging technologies are also encouraged. This issue tries to fill this gap, from the basic level of scientific research to practical applications that can give insights into field-level practices and strategies. It is here that an understanding of how nitrogen dynamics could mitigate the effects of stress will be key in the development of sustainable agricultural practices in light of continuing climate change and global food demands.

We look forward to your valuable contributions and further advancing this critical field with you.

Dr. Deyvid Novaes Marques
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. Nitrogen is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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.

• abiotic stress
• biotic stress
• environmental science
• genetics
• nitrogen
• plants
• physiology
• biochemistry