Plant Stress Responses: Past, Present, and Future

Abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, extreme temperatures, and heavy metals limit plant distribution patterns, growth, and development worldwide. Plants respond to environmental stresses in multiple ways including sensing, signaling, transcription, translation, and post-translational protein modifications. Plants’ responses to abiotic stresses include morphological and cytological changes, alteration in metabolic pathways, and transcriptional gene regulation. Signaling regulates proteins that are involved in maintaining water and ionic homeostasis under stress conditions. Understanding stress signaling and responses can increase our ability to improve stress resistance in crops, and improved knowledge can be helpful to increase crop productivity and agricultural sustainability.