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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 27774

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Dr. Isabel Marques

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Guest Editor

Forest Research Centre (CEF), Higher Institute of Agronomy, Edificio Ferreira Lapa, University of Lisbon, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: evolution; agro-forestry; biomarkers; genomics; ecosystem services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Ana I Ribeiro-Barros

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GeoBioTec, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (UNL), 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Interests: plant–environment interactions; biodiversity
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Dr. José C. Ramalho

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Plant Stress & Biodiversity Lab, Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food Unit (LEAF), Dept. Recursos Naturais, Ambiente e Território (DRAT), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa), Av. República, Quinta do Marquês 2784-505 Oeiras, Portugal
Interests: coffee
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change is expected to have a wide range of impacts on plant physiology and metabolism, soil fertility and carbon sequestration, and microbial diversity and activity. This imposes direct limitations on plant growth, fertility, and productivity. To promote the sustainability of ecosystems, efforts are necessary to enhance our knowledge of molecules governing key processes that might play a role in the mechanisms of stress resilience in plants.

This Special Issue aims to publish a collection of studies that use integrated molecular tools to unveil plant responses to environmental stresses associated with climate change. Authors are invited to submit related original research articles, reviews, and communications.

Dr. Isabel Marques
Prof. Dr. Ana I Ribeiro-Barros
Dr. José C. Ramalho
Guest Editors

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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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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 (drought, heat, salinity, cold, flooding)
biotic stress (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, insects, weeds)
genes and proteins
management strategies
metabolome
microbiome
physiological/biochemical responses
proteome
selection and breeding
symbiosis
transcriptome

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

4 pages, 215 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Plant Responses to Climate Change

by Isabel Marques, José C. Ramalho and Ana I. Ribeiro-Barros

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(21), 15902; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242115902 - 02 Nov 2023

Viewed by 805

Abstract

Ongoing climate change poses a great risk to the natural environment and the sustainability of agriculture [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

15 pages, 4884 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Alfalfa MsATG13 Confers Cold Stress Tolerance to Plants by Promoting Autophagy

by Weidi Zhao, Jiayi Song, Meijia Wang, Xiuxiu Chen, Binghao Du, Yimin An, Lishuang Zhang, Dan Wang and Changhong Guo

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(15), 12033; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241512033 - 27 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1003

Abstract

Autophagy is a conserved cellular process that functions in the maintenance of physiological and metabolic balance. It has previously been demonstrated to improve plant tolerance to abiotic stress. Numerous autophagy–related genes (ATGs) that regulate abiotic stress have been identified, but there have been few functional studies showing how ATGs confer cold stress tolerance. The cold transcriptome data of the crown buds that experienced overwintering of the alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) showed that MsATG13 is upregulated in response to cold stress. In the present study, we found that MsATG13 transgenic tobacco enhanced cold tolerance compared to wild–type (WT) plants. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that transgenic tobacco overexpressing MsATG13 formed more autophagosomes than WT plants in response to cold stress conditions. The transgenic tobacco increased autophagy levels due to upregulation of other ATGs that were necessary for autophagosome production under cold stress conditions. MsATG13 transgenic tobacco also increased the proline contents and antioxidant enzyme activities, enhancing the antioxidant defense capabilities under cold stress conditions. Furthermore, MsATG13 overexpression decreased levels of superoxide anion radicals and hydrogen peroxide under cold stress conditions. These findings demonstrate the role of MsATG13 in enhancing plant cold tolerance through modulation of autophagy and antioxidant levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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16 pages, 5502 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Late Elongated Hypocotyl Positively Regulates Salt Stress Tolerance in Medicago truncatula

by Zhichao Lu, Haiyang Liu, Yiming Kong, Lizhu Wen, Yang Zhao, Chuanen Zhou and Lu Han

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(12), 9948; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24129948 - 09 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1088

Abstract

Abiotic stress, such as drought, osmotic, and salinity stresses, seriously affects plant growth and crop production. Studying stress-resistant genes that enhance plant stress tolerance is an efficient way to facilitate the breeding of crop species with high stress tolerance. In this study, we reported that the core circadian clock component, the LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL (LHY) orthologue MtLHY, plays a positive role in salt stress response in Medicago truncatula. The expression of MtLHY was induced by salt stress, and loss-of-function mutants of MtLHY were shown to be hypersensitive to salt treatment. However, overexpression of MtLHY improved salt stress tolerance through a higher accumulation of flavonoids. Consistently, exogenous flavonol application improved the salt stress tolerance in M. truncatula. Additionally, MtLHY was identified as a transcriptional activator of the flavonol synthase gene, MtFLS. Our findings revealed that MtLHY confers plant salt stress tolerance, at least by modulating the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, which provides insight into salt stress tolerance that links the circadian clock with flavonoid biosynthesis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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23 pages, 3655 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Overexpression of Water-Responsive Genes Promoted by Elevated CO₂ Reduces ROS and Enhances Drought Tolerance in Coffea Species

by Isabel Marques, Isabel Fernandes, Octávio S. Paulo, Dora Batista, Fernando C. Lidon, Fábio Partelli, Fábio M. DaMatta, Ana I. Ribeiro-Barros and José C. Ramalho

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(4), 3210; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043210 - 06 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1819

Abstract

Drought is a major constraint to plant growth and productivity worldwide and will aggravate as water availability becomes scarcer. Although elevated air [CO₂] might mitigate some of these effects in plants, the mechanisms underlying the involved responses are poorly understood in woody economically important crops such as Coffea. This study analyzed transcriptome changes in Coffea canephora cv. CL153 and C. arabica cv. Icatu exposed to moderate (MWD) or severe water deficits (SWD) and grown under ambient (aCO₂) or elevated (eCO₂) air [CO₂]. We found that changes in expression levels and regulatory pathways were barely affected by MWD, while the SWD condition led to a down-regulation of most differentially expressed genes (DEGs). eCO₂ attenuated the impacts of drought in the transcripts of both genotypes but mostly in Icatu, in agreement with physiological and metabolic studies. A predominance of protective and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging-related genes, directly or indirectly associated with ABA signaling pathways, was found in Coffea responses, including genes involved in water deprivation and desiccation, such as protein phosphatases in Icatu, and aspartic proteases and dehydrins in CL153, whose expression was validated by qRT-PCR. The existence of a complex post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism appears to occur in Coffea explaining some apparent discrepancies between transcriptomic, proteomic, and physiological data in these genotypes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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26 pages, 3932 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mechanisms of Kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) Tolerance to Individual and Combined Stresses of Drought and Elevated Temperature

by Nataša Bauer, Mirta Tkalec, Nikola Major, Ana Talanga Vasari, Mirta Tokić, Sandra Vitko, Dean Ban, Smiljana Goreta Ban and Branka Salopek-Sondi

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(19), 11494; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231911494 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2179

Abstract

Rising temperatures and pronounced drought are significantly affecting biodiversity worldwide and reducing yields and quality of Brassica crops. To elucidate the mechanisms of tolerance, 33 kale accessions (B. oleracea var. acephala) were evaluated for individual (osmotic and elevated temperature stress) and combined stress (osmotic + temperature). Using root growth, biomass and proline content as reliable markers, accessions were evaluated for stress responses. Four representatives were selected for further investigation (photosynthetic performance, biochemical markers, sugar content, specialized metabolites, transcription level of transcription factors NAC, HSF, DREB and expression of heat shock proteins HSP70 and HSP90): very sensitive (392), moderately sensitive (395), tolerant (404) and most tolerant (411). Accessions more tolerant to stress conditions were characterized by higher basal content of proline, total sugars, glucosinolates and higher transcription of NAC and DREB. Under all stress conditions, 392 was characterized by a significant decrease in biomass, root growth, photosynthesis performance, fructan content, especially under osmotic and combined stress, a significant increase in HSF transcription and HSP accumulation under temperature stress and a significant decrease in NAC transcription under all stresses. The most tolerant accession under all applied stresses, 411 showed the least changes in all analyzed parameters compared with the other accessions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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17 pages, 3459 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Interplay between Ca²⁺/Calmodulin-Mediated Signaling and AtSR1/CAMTA3 during Increased Temperature Resulting in Compromised Immune Response in Plants

by Peiguo Yuan and B. W. Poovaiah

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(4), 2175; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23042175 - 16 Feb 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2027

Abstract

Changing temperatures are known to affect plant–microbe interactions; however, the molecular mechanism involved in plant disease resistance is not well understood. Here, we report the effects of a moderate change in temperature on plant immune response through Ca²⁺/calmodulin-mediated signaling. At 30 °C, Pst DC3000 triggered significantly weak and relatively slow Ca²⁺ influx in plant cells, as compared to that at 18 °C. Increased temperature contributed to an enhanced disease susceptibility in plants; the enhanced disease susceptibility is the result of the compromised stomatal closure induced by pathogens at high temperature. A Ca²⁺ receptor, AtSR1, contributes to the decreased plant immunity at high temperatures and the calmodulin-binding domain (CaMBD) is required for its function. Furthermore, both salicylic acid biosynthesis (ICS) and salicylic acid receptor (NPR1) are involved in this process. In addition to stomatal control, AtSR1 is involved in high temperature-compromised apoplastic immune response through the salicylic acid signaling pathway. The qRT-PCR data revealed that AtSR1 contributed to increased temperatures-mediated susceptible immune response by regulating SA-related genes in atsr1, such as PR1, ICS1, NPR1, as well as EDS1. Our results indicate that Ca²⁺ signaling has broad effects on the molecular interplay between changing temperatures as well as plant defense during plant–pathogen interactions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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22 pages, 5239 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Identification and Functions against Tomato Spotted Wilt Tospovirus of PR-10 in Solanum lycopersicum

by Md. Monirul Islam, Shiming Qi, Shijie Zhang, Bakht Amin, Vivek Yadav, Ahmed H. El-Sappah, Fei Zhang and Yan Liang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(3), 1502; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031502 - 28 Jan 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2433

Abstract

Tomato spotted wilt virus impacts negatively on a wide range of economically important plants, especially tomatoes. When plants facing any pathogen attack or infection, increase the transcription level of plant genes that are produced pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. The aim of this study is a genome-wide identification of PR-10 superfamily and comparative analysis of PR-10 and Sw-5b gene functions against tomato responses to biotic stress (TSWV) to systemic resistance in tomato. Forty-five candidate genes were identified, with a length of 64–210 amino acid residues and a molecular weight of 7.6–24.4 kDa. The PR-10 gene was found on ten of the twelve chromosomes, and it was determined through a genetic ontology that they were involved in six biological processes and molecular activities, and nine cellular components. Analysis of the transcription level of PR-10 family members showed that the PR-10 gene (Solyc09g090980) has high expression levels in some parts of the tomato plant. PR-10 and Sw-5b gene transcription and activity in tomato leaves were strongly induced by TSWV infection, whereas H8 plants having the highest significantly upregulated expression of PR-10 and Sw-5b gene after the inoculation of TSWV, and TSWV inoculated in M82 plants showed significantly upregulated expression of PR-10 gene comparatively lower than H8 plants. There was no significant expression of Sw-5b gene of TSWV inoculated in M82 plants and then showed highly significant correlations between PR-10 and Sw-5b genes at different time points in H8 plants showed significant correlations compared to M82 plants after the inoculation of TSWV; a heat map showed that these two genes may also participate in regulating the defense response after the inoculation of TSWV in tomato. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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21 pages, 6067 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combined Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Analysis Reveals the Molecular Mechanism of Salt Tolerance of Huayouza 62, an Elite Cultivar in Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

by Heping Wan, Jiali Qian, Hao Zhang, Hongchen Lu, Ouqi Li, Rihui Li, Yi Yu, Jing Wen, Lun Zhao, Bin Yi, Tingdong Fu and Jinxiong Shen

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(3), 1279; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031279 - 24 Jan 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3289

Abstract

Soil salinity is one of the most significant abiotic stresses affecting crop yield around the world. To explore the molecular mechanism of salt tolerance in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.), the transcriptome analysis and metabolomics analysis were used to dissect the differentially expressed genes and metabolites in two rapeseed varieties with significant differences in salt tolerance; one is an elite rapeseed cultivar, Huayouza 62. A total of 103 key differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) and 53 key differentials expressed genes (DEGs) that might be related to salt stress were identified through metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis. GO and KEGG analysis revealed that the DEGs were mainly involved in ion transport, reactive oxygen scavenging, osmotic regulation substance synthesis, and macromolecular protein synthesis. The DEMs were involved in TCA cycle, proline metabolism, inositol metabolism, carbohydrate metabolic processes, and oxidation-reduction processes. In addition, overexpression of BnLTP3, which was one of the key DEGs, could increase tolerance to salt stress in Arabidopsis plants. This study reveals that the regulation mechanism of salt tolerance in rapeseed at the transcriptome and metabolism level and provides abundant data for further in-depth identification of essential salt tolerance genes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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21 pages, 5844 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Roles of Anthocyanin- and Jasmonic Acid-Biosynthetic Pathways in Rapeseed in Response to High Light Stress

by Yuxiu Luo, Shoulian Teng, Hengxia Yin, Shengping Zhang, Xiaoyun Tuo and Lam-Son Phan Tran

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(23), 13027; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222313027 - 01 Dec 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2280

Abstract

Rapeseed (Brassica napus) is one of the major important oil crops worldwide and is largely cultivated in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau (QTP), where long and strong solar-radiation is well-known. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying rapeseed’s response to light stress are largely unknown. In the present study, the color of rapeseed seedlings changed from green to purple under high light (HL) stress conditions. Therefore, changes in anthocyanin metabolism and the transcriptome of rapeseed seedlings cultured under normal light (NL) and HL conditions were analyzed to dissect how rapeseed responds to HL at the molecular level. Results indicated that the contents of anthocyanins, especially glucosides of cyanidin, delphinidin, and petunidin, which were determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), increased by 9.6-, 4.2-, and 59.7-fold in rapeseed seedlings exposed to HL conditions, respectively. Next, RNA-sequencing analysis identified 7390 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which included 4393 up-regulated and 2997 down-regulated genes. Among the up-regulated genes, many genes related to the anthocyanin-biosynthetic pathway were enriched. For example, genes encoding dihydroflavonol reductase (BnDFR) and anthocyanin synthase (BnANS) were especially induced by HL conditions, which was also confirmed by RT-qPCR analysis. In addition, two PRODUCTION OF ANTHOCYANIN PIGMENTATION 2 (BnPAP2) and GLABRA3 (BnGL3) genes encoding MYB-type and bHLH-type transcription factors, respectively, whose expression was also up-regulated by HL stress, were found to be associated with the changes in anthocyanin biosynthesis. Many genes involved in the jasmonic acid (JA)-biosynthetic pathway were also up-regulated under HL conditions. This finding, which is in agreement with the well-known positive regulatory role of JA in anthocyanin biosynthesis, suggests that the JA may also play a key role in the responses of rapeseed seedlings to HL. Collectively, these data indicate that anthocyanin biosynthesis-related and JA biosynthesis-related pathways mediate HL responses in rapeseed. These findings collectively provide mechanistic insights into the mechanisms involved in the response of rapeseed to HL stress, and the identified key genes may potentially be used to improve HL tolerance of rapeseed cultivars through genetic engineering or breeding strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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14 pages, 1436 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Alleles of the GRF3-2A Gene in Wheat and Their Agronomic Value

by Mikhail S. Bazhenov, Anastasiya G. Chernook, Ludmila A. Bespalova, Tatiana I. Gritsay, Nadezhda A. Polevikova, Gennady I. Karlov, Lubov A. Nazarova and Mikhail G. Divashuk

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(22), 12376; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222212376 - 16 Nov 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1981

Abstract

The Growth-regulating factors (GRF) are a family of plant-specific transcription factors that have roles in plant growth, development and stress response. In this study the diversity of the TaGRF3-2A (TraesCS2A02G435100) gene was investigated in Russian bread wheat germplasm by means of next generation sequencing and molecular markers, and the results compared with those from multiple wheat genome and exome sequencing projects. The results showed that an allele possessing c.495G>T polymorphism found in Bezostaya 1 and designated as TaGRF3-2Ab, is connected with earlier heading and better grain filling under conditions of the Krasnodar Krai. TaGRF3-2Ab is more frequent among Russian winter wheat cultivars than in other germplasms found in the world, implying that it is adaptive for the Chernozem region. A new rare mutation of the TaGRF3-2A was found in the spring wheat cultivar Novosibirskaya 67. The molecular markers developed will facilitate utilization of TaGRF3-2A mutations in future agronomic studies and wheat improvement. Albeit GRF3-2Ab may be good at maintaining high milling quality of the grain, it should be used with caution in breeding of winter wheat cultivars in the perspective of climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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Review

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11 pages, 1811 KiB

Open AccessReview

Current Studies of the Effects of Drought Stress on Root Exudates and Rhizosphere Microbiomes of Crop Plant Species

by Yalin Chen, Zongmu Yao, Yu Sun, Enze Wang, Chunjie Tian, Yang Sun, Juan Liu, Chunyu Sun and Lei Tian

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(4), 2374; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23042374 - 21 Feb 2022

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 6738

Abstract

With the warming global climate, drought stress is considered to be the most important abiotic factor limiting plant growth and yield in the world. Drought stress has serious impacts on crop production. Many researchers have studied the influences of drought stress on crop production and plant physiology; however, few researchers have combined root exudates with root-associated microbiomes for their mutual effects under drought conditions. In this review, we systematically illustrate the impact of drought stress on root exudates and root-associated microbiomes, and then we discuss the mutual regulation of root-associated microbiomes and the host plant in helping the plant adapt to drought. Finally, we construct a framework for the mutual connections between the plant, root exudates, and the microbiome. We hope this review can provide some significant guidelines to promote the study of drought resistance in plants in association with the rhizosphere microbiota. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plants Responses to Climate Change)

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