Plant Salt Stress Tolerance: Mechanisms and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Soil salinization is a pervasive abiotic stressor that severely impedes plant growth and productivity, threatening global food security and sustainable agriculture. Understanding the intricate mechanisms that underlie plant salt tolerance is paramount to developing resilient crops for the future.

This Special Issue of Plants, entitled “Plant Salt Stress Tolerance: Mechanisms and Applications,” aims to compile high-quality original research and review articles that delve into the multifaceted responses of plants to salinity stress. We seek to explore the fundamental biological processes that confer tolerance, as well as the practical applications of this knowledge.

We welcome submissions that investigate, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Physiological and Biochemical Mechanisms: Osmotic adjustment, ion homeostasis (e.g., Na⁺/K⁺ ratio), oxidative stress management, and photosynthetic adaptations.
• Molecular and Genetic Bases: Gene discovery, regulation of gene expression (e.g., transcription factors, non-coding RNAs), epigenetic modifications, and signal transduction pathways in response to salt stress.
• Omics Approaches: Genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic insights into salt stress responses and tolerance.
• Phytohormone Signaling: The role of abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), auxins, and other hormones in mediating salt stress responses.
• Microbe–Plant Interactions: The role of rhizospheric and endophytic microorganisms (e.g., PGPR) in enhancing plant salt tolerance.
• Breeding and Biotechnological Applications: Development of salt-tolerant crop varieties through molecular breeding, marker-assisted selection, and genetic engineering.
• Applied Research: Strategies for utilizing halophytes and salt-tolerant crops in the phytoremediation and agricultural utilization of saline–alkali soils.

This collection intends to provide a comprehensive platform for sharing cutting-edge discoveries that bridge the gap between basic research and applied science, ultimately contributing to the development of solutions for agriculture in saline environments.

Dr. Shao Tianyun
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

• salt stress
• abiotic stress
• ion homeostasis
• osmoregulation
• oxidative stress
• stress signaling
• phytoremediation
• halophytes
• crop breeding
• stress-tolerant crops