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Abiotic Stress of Crops: Molecular Genetics and Genomics—3rd Edition
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Abiotic Stress of Crops: Molecular Genetics and Genomics—3rd Edition

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 1062

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Zhaoshi Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Triticeae Crops, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: drought; salt; heat; fusarium crown rot (FCR); regulation network; wheat; soybean
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due in part to climate change and increasing water scarcity, drought, heat, and salt, dry-hot winds pose a substantial threat to agriculture worldwide, especially to the productivity of field crops. The time of onset, duration and intensity of drought stress can affect crop production to different degrees, and drought during the reproductive period can directly lead to losses of over 50% in the average yield. Therefore, improving the abiotic stress tolerance of crops is of great importance.

With the advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies and release of crop reference genomes, the isolation of multiple genes and analysis of gene regulation networks has rapidly expanded in recent years. Genome information is laying the foundation for precision genome editing, ushering in a new era of soybean molecular breeding. This Special Issue will highlight abiotic stress responses, genomic research, gene–abiotic stress interactions, gene regulation mechanisms, and stress signal transduction.

Prof. Dr. Zhaoshi Xu
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.

Keywords

  • abiotic stress response
  • gene function
  • gene regulation
  • stress signal transduction
  • stress tolerance
  • tolerant mechanism
  • genomic research
  • gene editing
  • yield

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 8840 KB  
Article
Characterization of the Soybean GPAT Gene Family Identifies GmGPAT1 as a Key Protein in Salt Stress Tolerance
by Xin Li, Yunlong Li, Yan Sun, Sinan Li, Quan Cai, Shujun Li, Minghao Sun, Tao Yu, Xianglong Meng and Jianguo Zhang
Plants 2025, 14(18), 2862; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14182862 - 13 Sep 2025
Viewed by 485
Abstract
Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferases (GPATs) catalyze the initial and rate-limiting step of glycerolipid biosynthesis, yet their contribution to salt tolerance in the soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) plants remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, a total of 27 GmGPAT genes were identified, and their [...] Read more.
Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferases (GPATs) catalyze the initial and rate-limiting step of glycerolipid biosynthesis, yet their contribution to salt tolerance in the soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) plants remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, a total of 27 GmGPAT genes were identified, and their evolutionary relationships, chromosomal distribution, conserved motifs, and cis-regulatory elements were comprehensively analyzed. Through transcriptomic and qPCR analyses, many GmGPATs were found to be predominantly expressed in roots, with GmGPAT1, a plastid-targeted isoform, displaying the most rapid and pronounced transcriptional activation under salt stress. GFP-fusion experiments in transient expression assays confirmed plastid localization of GmGPAT1. Heterologous expression in Escherichia coli together with enzyme kinetics analyses validated its enzymatic function as a GPAT family member. The soybean hairy-root lines overexpressing GmGPAT1 exhibited enhanced root elongation, increased biomass, and improved photosynthetic efficiency under 120 mM NaCl stress, while CRISPR/Cas9 knockout mutants showed pronounced growth inhibition. Physiological assays demonstrated that GmGPAT1 overexpression mitigated oxidative damage by limiting reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and lipid peroxidation, increasing antioxidant enzyme activities (CAT, SOD, POD), and elevating the ratios of AsA/DHA and GSH/GSSG. These changes contributed to redox homeostasis and improved Na+ extrusion capacity. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 288 soybean accessions identified a single nucleotide polymorphism in the GmGPAT1 promoter that was significantly correlated with salt tolerance, and the beneficial Hap1 allele emerged as a promising molecular marker for breeding. Together, these analyses emphasize the status of GmGPAT1 as a major regulator of salt stress adaptation through the coordinated modulation of lipid metabolism and redox balance, extend the functional annotation of the soybean GPAT family, and highlight new genetic resources that can be leveraged to enhance tolerance to salt stress in soybean cultivars. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress of Crops: Molecular Genetics and Genomics—3rd Edition)
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24 pages, 4535 KB  
Article
CmDUF239-1 Improves the Salt Tolerance of Grafted Melon by Enhancing Antioxidant Capacity and Na+/K+ Homeostasis
by Yanjun Liu, Zhanming Tan, Lulu Meng, Yang Li and Yuquan Peng
Plants 2025, 14(17), 2670; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14172670 - 27 Aug 2025
Viewed by 455
Abstract
Salt stress poses a substantial challenge to melon cultivation, but grafting techniques have shown promise in enhancing salt tolerance. This study aims to identify key genes involved in salt tolerance within melon rootstocks. The salt tolerance of four melon cultivars was evaluated, revealing [...] Read more.
Salt stress poses a substantial challenge to melon cultivation, but grafting techniques have shown promise in enhancing salt tolerance. This study aims to identify key genes involved in salt tolerance within melon rootstocks. The salt tolerance of four melon cultivars was evaluated, revealing that ‘ST2’ exhibited salt sensitivity, whereas ‘XZM17’ demonstrated salt tolerance. Grafting experiments indicated that salt-sensitive melons benefit significantly from being grafted onto salt-tolerant rootstocks. Transcriptome analysis further identified the CmDUF239-1 gene as a critical factor contributing to improved salt tolerance in grafted melons. Functional studies demonstrated that knocking out CmDUF239-1 reduces salt tolerance, reflected in decreased activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT) and diminished expression levels of related genes (CmSOD1, CmPRX53-1, CmPRX53-2, CmCAT2). Conversely, overexpression of CmDUF239-1 leads to enhanced enzyme activity and gene expression, along with improved Na+/K+ homeostasis, evidenced by decreased Na+ accumulation and increased K+ absorption. Furthermore, CmDUF239-1 overexpression upregulated Na+/K+ transport-related genes (CmSOS1, CmNHX6, CmKUP3, CmSKOR), whereas CmDUF239-1 knockout had the opposite effect. These findings indicate that CmDUF239-1 plays a dual role in promoting salt tolerance by regulating antioxidant defenses and ion transport, contributing to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind grafting-induced salt tolerance and providing insights for the breeding of resilient melon varieties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress of Crops: Molecular Genetics and Genomics—3rd Edition)
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