Photo-Oxidative Stress in Plants and Algae

Dear Colleagues,

The topic of the responses of plants and algae to photo-oxidative stress has captured the attention of the research community. Light is required for photosynthesis, but too much light is harmful to plants and algae. The light‐dependent generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS, such as ¹O₂, O₂^•–, and H₂O₂) not only causes oxidative damage, but also contributes to signaling and light stress acclimation. The formation of ROS can be minimized by a number of complex and refined regulatory mechanisms. The adjustment of photosystem function and electron transport activity, as well as carbon fixation efficiency, is working in plants and algae for the prevention of ROS generation. Furthermore, efficient antioxidative systems are induced for rapid ROS elimination, and when the capacity for the production of ROS exceeds that for scavenging by the antioxidative defense systems, oxidative damage arises. Environmental stress can also modify the photo-oxidative processes in various ways, ranging from direct involvement in light‐induced free radical formation to the inhibition of metabolism that renders previously optimal light levels excessive.

This Special Issue of Plants will focus on all aspects of photo-oxidative stress, from prevention to mitigation and acclimation, across the diversity of photosynthetic organisms. Research and review articles on photo-oxidative stress in plant ultrastructure, metabolism, biochemistry, proteomics, transcriptomics, and other related topics are welcome. 

Dr. Tse-Min Lee
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.

• antioxidative defence
• carbon fixation
• photoprotection
• photosynthesis
• photosystem
• reactive oxygen species
• signalling