Physiological and Molecular Characterization of Crop Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses

Dear Colleagues,

Crop growth and yield are limited by several factors of which abiotic stresses are among the most damaging. The most common abiotic stresses are water deficit, excess water, high and low temperature, and salinity. Others include, for example, compaction, mineral availability and pH-related stresses. Climate change is predicted to increase the occurrence of extreme weather events and thus also abiotic stresses. Solutions to increase crop tolerance and minimize the effects of abiotic stresses on crop yield have been actively sought. Many of the crop traits resulting in increased abiotic stress tolerance are an interplay of several genes, which make them difficult to investigate and modify. Furthermore, different stress factors may cause osmotic or oxidative stress and protein denaturation, leading to cellular adaptive responses—for example, accumulation of osmolytes, induction of stress proteins, and acceleration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging systems. Exposure to a stress factor can also lead to tolerance against a wide range of future abiotic stress events, such as priming, acclimation, conditioning, hardening, or cross-stress tolerance. Significant steps have been taken in understanding the physiology and molecular biology of crop abiotic stress tolerance, and updates on the most recent accomplishments will be provided in this special topic.

Prof. Dr. Pirjo Mäkelä
Dr. Mercè Llugany
Dr. Peter A. Roussos
Dr. Mumtaz Cheema
Topic Editors