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New Insights into Plant Signaling Mechanisms in Biotic and Abiotic...
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New Insights into Plant Signaling Mechanisms in Biotic and Abiotic Stress, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 6806

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hamdy Kashtoh

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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
Interests: abiotic stress; structural biology; ion channels; bioactive compounds/diabetes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Kwang-Hyun Baek

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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38451, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea
Interests: antimicrobial agents; synergistic effects; nanoparticles; essential oils; secondary metabolites; plant extracts; bacteria; fungi; viruses; multidrug resistance; microorganisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants are constantly challenged by their environments, including both biotic and abiotic stress factors. As a result, plants have developed complex signaling pathways in response to various challenges, allowing them to adapt and survive. In order to detect and react to pathogen attacks, herbivore feeding, and symbiotic interactions in the case of biotic stress, plants use a complex network of signaling molecules, including phytohormones, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and secondary metabolites. These signaling cascades cause the activation of systemic acquired resistance, the synthesis of antimicrobial chemicals, the reinforcement of physical barriers, and genes involved in defense. When plants are exposed to abiotic stress, such as drought, extreme temperatures, salinity, and nutrient deficiencies, they use different signaling pathways to adapt. Abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene, jasmonic acid (JA), calcium ions, and other signaling molecules are involved in these pathways. These signaling molecules coordinate cellular responses such as stomatal closure, osmotic correction, and the activation of stress-responsive genes. Understanding the mechanisms of plant signaling networks involved in biotic and abiotic stress responses is essential for developing crop plants that are resilient to changing environmental conditions. This Special Issue aims to attract contributions to developing our understanding of the mechanisms involved in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress.

We invite scholars to submit original research articles and reviews that make substantial advances within this field.

Dr. Hamdy Kashtoh
Prof. Dr. Kwang-Hyun Baek
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.

Keywords

  • abiotic stress
  • biotic stress
  • drought stress
  • salt stress
  • bacterial immunity
  • guard cell
  • anion channel
  • protein kinases
  • calcium signaling
  • abscisic acid signaling
  • hight signaling
  • nitrogen fixa-tion
  • phosphorylation
  • plant nutrients
  • receptors
  • signal transduction
  • stress
  • nutrition
  • calcium
  • membrane transport
  • Arabidopsis thaliana
  • ion homeostasis combination

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 7206 KB  
Article
Concentration-Dependent Regulation of Ginger Growth and Quality by Abscisic Acid: Insights from Integrated Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Analyses
by Yifei Sun, Hui Li, Qinxi Feng, Chenrui Liu, Yunlong Li, Maoqin Xia, Chao Song, Lihui Jiang and Hong-Lei Li
Plants 2026, 15(8), 1228; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15081228 - 16 Apr 2026
Viewed by 376
Abstract
Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates diverse aspects of plant growth and secondary metabolism, yet its concentration-dependent effects on rhizomatous spice crops remain poorly understood at the systems level. Here, we investigated the phenotypic, physiological, hormonal, and multi-omics responses of ginger (Zingiber officinale) [...] Read more.
Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates diverse aspects of plant growth and secondary metabolism, yet its concentration-dependent effects on rhizomatous spice crops remain poorly understood at the systems level. Here, we investigated the phenotypic, physiological, hormonal, and multi-omics responses of ginger (Zingiber officinale) to foliar-applied ABA across a concentration gradient. Exogenous ABA modulated ginger growth in a distinctly non-linear manner. Low-to-moderate concentrations (5–15 mg/L) significantly enhanced aboveground branching and belowground rhizome yield, whereas high concentration (35 mg/L) inhibited branching while promoting structural carbohydrate accumulation, revealing a concentration-dependent trade-off between growth and secondary wall deposition. Hormone profiling uncovered global reprogramming of the endogenous hormonal network, with optimal ABA (15 mg/L) coordinately elevating growth-promoting hormones and defense-related signals, while high concentrations suppressed multiple hormone pathways and triggered negative feedback inhibition of endogenous ABA biosynthesis. Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses identified convergent enrichment on phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, gingerol biosynthesis, and plant hormone signal transduction. Co-expression network analysis revealed a highly interconnected module of 583 genes linking hormone signaling to secondary metabolism, with coordinated up-regulation of key enzymes from phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) to polyketide synthase under 15 mg/L ABA explaining the 64% increase in 6-gingerol content. This study establishes a mechanistic chain from ABA perception to improved ginger yield and quality, mediated by hormonal crosstalk and transcriptional activation of the phenylpropanoid-gingerol network. We propose an “ABA optimization window” of 5–15 mg/L for precision cultivation of high-quality ginger, providing a systems-level framework for understanding hormone-mediated regulation of secondary metabolism in medicinal and spice crops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Plant Signaling Mechanisms in Biotic and Abiotic Stress, 2nd Edition)
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16 pages, 2858 KB  
Article
Loss of ASFT Enhances Drought Tolerance in Arabidopsis by Regulating OST1 Autophosphorylation
by Jiangtao Jia, Wenqian Shi, Rui Xu, Yutao Guo, Kun Li, Linqian Yue, Yinghui Qiao, Xiaoxue Zhang, Chuandao Gao, Xiyang Wang and Yuchen Miao
Plants 2026, 15(5), 829; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15050829 - 7 Mar 2026
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Abstract
Drought stress severely constrains plant growth and productivity. To mitigate water loss, plants primarily regulate stomatal aperture through the Abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathway, where the Sucrose Nonfermenting 1-Related Protein Kinase 2 (SnRK2) family kinase Open Stomata 1 (OST1) acts as a central [...] Read more.
Drought stress severely constrains plant growth and productivity. To mitigate water loss, plants primarily regulate stomatal aperture through the Abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathway, where the Sucrose Nonfermenting 1-Related Protein Kinase 2 (SnRK2) family kinase Open Stomata 1 (OST1) acts as a central positive regulator. However, the upstream regulators that fine-tune OST1 activity remain incompletely characterized. Aliphatic Suberin Feruloyl Transferase (ASFT), a BAHD acyltransferase essential for suberin aromatic monomer biosynthesis, was previously uncharacterized regarding its function in leaves. Here, we report that ASFT negatively regulates drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana by directly interacting with OST1 and inhibiting its autophosphorylation, thereby restricting stomatal aperture. Consistent with this, the asft mutant exhibited decreased water loss and enhanced survival under drought, whereas ASFT-overexpressing lines showed opposite phenotypes. BiFC, Co-IP and in vitro kinase assays confirmed that ASFT directly interacts with OST1 and suppresses its autophosphorylation, while dehydration-induced OST1 phosphorylation was elevated in the asft mutant. Genetic evidence confirmed that ASFT functions upstream of OST1. This study reveals a moonlighting role for this suberin biosynthetic enzyme in ABA signaling and provides a potential target for breeding drought-resistant crops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Plant Signaling Mechanisms in Biotic and Abiotic Stress, 2nd Edition)
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Review

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31 pages, 6501 KB  
Review
From Hormones to Harvests: A Pathway to Strengthening Plant Resilience for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
by Dipayan Das, Hamdy Kashtoh, Jibanjyoti Panda, Sarvesh Rustagi, Yugal Kishore Mohanta, Niraj Singh and Kwang-Hyun Baek
Plants 2025, 14(15), 2322; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14152322 - 27 Jul 2025
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5472
Abstract
The worldwide agriculture industry is facing increasing problems due to rapid population increase and increasingly unfavorable weather patterns. In order to reach the projected food production targets, which are essential for guaranteeing global food security, innovative and sustainable agricultural methods must be adopted. [...] Read more.
The worldwide agriculture industry is facing increasing problems due to rapid population increase and increasingly unfavorable weather patterns. In order to reach the projected food production targets, which are essential for guaranteeing global food security, innovative and sustainable agricultural methods must be adopted. Conventional approaches, including traditional breeding procedures, often cannot handle the complex and simultaneous effects of biotic pressures such as pest infestations, disease attacks, and nutritional imbalances, as well as abiotic stresses including heat, salt, drought, and heavy metal toxicity. Applying phytohormonal approaches, particularly those involving hormonal crosstalk, presents a viable way to increase crop resilience in this context. Abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellins (GAs), auxin, cytokinins, salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene, and GA are among the plant hormones that control plant stress responses. In order to precisely respond to a range of environmental stimuli, these hormones allow plants to control gene expression, signal transduction, and physiological adaptation through intricate networks of antagonistic and constructive interactions. This review focuses on how the principal hormonal signaling pathways (in particular, ABA-ET, ABA-JA, JA-SA, and ABA-auxin) intricately interact and how they affect the plant stress response. For example, ABA-driven drought tolerance controls immunological responses and stomatal behavior through antagonistic interactions with ET and SA, while using SnRK2 kinases to activate genes that react to stress. Similarly, the transcription factor MYC2 is an essential node in ABA–JA crosstalk and mediates the integration of defense and drought signals. Plants’ complex hormonal crosstalk networks are an example of a precisely calibrated regulatory system that strikes a balance between growth and abiotic stress adaptation. ABA, JA, SA, ethylene, auxin, cytokinin, GA, and BR are examples of central nodes that interact dynamically and context-specifically to modify signal transduction, rewire gene expression, and change physiological outcomes. To engineer stress-resilient crops in the face of shifting environmental challenges, a systems-level view of these pathways is provided by a combination of enrichment analyses and STRING-based interaction mapping. These hormonal interactions are directly related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action). This review emphasizes the potential of biotechnologies to use hormone signaling to improve agricultural performance and sustainability by uncovering the molecular foundations of hormonal crosstalk. Increasing our understanding of these pathways presents a strategic opportunity to increase crop resilience, reduce environmental degradation, and secure food systems in the face of increasing climate unpredictability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Plant Signaling Mechanisms in Biotic and Abiotic Stress, 2nd Edition)
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