Jul 2026· Current Issues in Molecular Biology· Vol 48, pp. 719· 0 citations· 155 references
Medicine
TL;DR
A mechanistic framework that links salinity perception, ROS-mediated signaling, ABA and MAPK pathways, antioxidant gene families, transcription factor networks and processing-oriented quality traits is proposed for improving halophytic raw materials for food, feed and bioprocessing applications.
Abstract
Salinity stress affects not only the survival and productivity of halophytic plants, but also the composition, structure and processability of their biomass. In Salicornia spp., salt-induced regulation of ion transport, osmotic adjustment, reactive oxygen species signaling, antioxidant defense, and cell wall remodeling can directly influence residual salinity, water retention, texture, extractability, drying behavior, and oxidative stability of plant biomass. However, most existing transcriptomic studies of Salicornia and related halophytes have focused mainly on salt tolerance mechanisms, whereas the connection between stress-regulated molecular networks and processing-related biomass traits remains insufficiently systematized. This review addresses this gap by proposing a mechanistic framework that links salinity perception, ROS-mediated signaling, ABA and MAPK pathways, antioxidant gene families, transcription factor networks and processing-oriented quality traits. Special attention is given to enzymatic antioxidant systems, including SOD, CAT, APX, POD and components of the ascorbate-glutathione cycle, as well as to non-enzymatic defense mechanisms involving ascorbate, glutathione, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, proline and glycine betaine. The review also discusses the regulatory roles of WRKY, DREB/CBF, NAC, bZIP and MYB transcription factor families as molecular control points connecting salinity stress responses with downstream metabolic and structural traits. Network-based approaches, including WGCNA, pathway signatures and transcript panels, are considered more informative than single-gene markers for predicting complex quality traits in Salicornia biomass. In addition, recent genomic and computational strategies, including CRISPR/Cas-mediated functional validation, GWAS, genomic selection, multi-omics integration and AI-assisted modeling, are discussed as emerging tools for candidate-gene prioritization and predictive assessment of stress-dependent biomass quality. Overall, this review shifts the interpretation of Salicornia transcriptomics from a descriptive salt-tolerance model toward a mechanistic and application-oriented framework for improving halophytic raw materials for food, feed and bioprocessing applications.
Abstract Soil salinity limits wheat productivity by disrupting water uptake, Na⁺/K⁺ homeostasis, photosynthesis, reproductive development, and grain filling. Although wheat salinity tolerance is often discussed in terms of individual traits such as Na⁺ exclusion, antioxidant defense, osmolyte accumulation, or abscisic acid signaling, these responses operate as interconnected signaling networks. This review reframes wheat salinity adaptation as a crosstalk-driven process linking early root perception with whole-plant acclimation and yield-related outcomes. At the root-soil interface, salinity rapidly lowers external water potential, alters membrane potential, disturbs ion fluxes, and induces early Ca2⁺, reactive oxygen species (ROS), pH, nitric oxide, electrical, and phosphorylation signals. Ca2⁺ sensors and decoders, including CaM/CMLs, CDPKs, and CBL-CIPK modules, connect these early signals with ROS regulation, ion-transporter activity, kinase cascades, and transcriptional reprogramming. ABA integrates osmotic stress with stomatal closure, hydraulic adjustment, compatible-solute accumulation, and water-use regulation, whereas additional hormonal and metabolic signals shape root architecture, growth restraint, senescence, source-sink balance, and reproductive protection. Wheat-specific evidence strongly supports the importance of HKT1;5-mediated Na⁺ retrieval, SOS-like ion regulation, K⁺ retention, antioxidant capacity, ABA-associated water regulation, osmotic adjustment, and genotype-dependent transcriptional responses. However, several important signaling models, including precise Ca2⁺ signatures, real-time Ca2⁺-ROS feedback dynamics, guard-cell ABA-ROS-Ca2⁺ signaling, systemic Ca2⁺/ROS waves, and salinity-specific sugar-redox-hormone control of grain filling, remain incompletely validated in wheat. By distinguishing wheat-supported mechanisms from conserved model-plant frameworks, this review identifies key signaling hubs and physiological trade-offs that may guide breeding, genome editing, priming, and agronomic strategies for improving wheat performance under saline environments.
Hakim Zamir, Daud Ali Shah, F. Rauf et al.· Plant Signalling & Behavior· 1 citation
Abiotic stresses such as salinity, heavy metal toxicity, drought, and extreme temperatures severely limit plant growth and agricultural productivity by disrupting cellular homeostasis and inducing excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Hydrogen-rich water (HRW), has emerged as a promising eco-friendly strategy for enhancing plant stress tolerance. This review synthesizes current knowledge on HRW-mediated stress alleviation, offering an integrated framework of antioxidant regulation, hormonal crosstalk, and signal transduction. HRW confers protection through selective scavenging of cytotoxic radicals while preserving signaling ROS, upregulates enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants to maintain redox balance, regulates ion homeostasis and osmolyte accumulation, and protects chloroplast and mitochondrial integrity. Furthermore, HRW modulates gene expression and stress-responsive pathways via interactions with phytohormones and gaseous signaling networks. This integrated approach distinguishes the present work by bridging previously dispersed mechanistic insights across multiple stress types. Despite promising findings, challenges remain regarding hydrogen perception mechanisms, application standardization, and field-level validation. Advancing these areas will support the integration of HRW into sustainable agricultural practices for improved crop resilience.
Lei Huang, Yingqi Hu, Yi Wang et al.· Frontiers in Plant Science· 0 citations
Soil salinity is a major threat to crop productivity, sustainable agriculture, and global food security, with more than 833 million hectares of land affected worldwide. Salt stress restricts plant growth through osmotic stress, ion toxicity, oxidative damage, membrane disruption, reduced photosynthesis, and yield loss. Plants respond through coordinated regulatory networks that connect early stress perception with ion balance, osmotic adjustment, hormone signaling, transcript regulation, and protein modification. Recent advances have identified several sensory and signaling modules involved in salinity responses, including calcium signaling, receptor like kinases, FERONIA, OSCA, MOCA, annexins, and mechanosensitive channels that detect ionic, osmotic, and mechanical changes. Established pathways such as the SOS pathway and GABA shunt are included as established background mechanisms for sodium homeostasis and metabolic adjustment under saline conditions. Hormonal networks involving abscisic acid, ethylene, jasmonic acid, auxin, gibberellins, and brassinosteroids coordinate root architecture, stomatal control, antioxidant defense, growth restraint, and post-stress recovery. Emerging regulatory layers mediated by microRNAs, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and SUMOylation further fine tune transcript stability, protein activity, ion transport, redox balance, and stress resilience. A central challenge is the translational gap between model species and crops, since many mechanisms defined in Arabidopsis and rice still lack functional validation in major crop species and halophytes. Integrating conserved and species dependent mechanisms with crop centered validation will help convert molecular knowledge into breeding, genome editing, and management strategies for saline agriculture.
Muhammad Usman, Li Wang, Xiaojuan An et al.· Plant Science· 0 citations
By connecting stress biology with translational breeding, this review provides a framework for developing climate-resilient Brassica cultivars by synthesizing recent progress in abiotic stress tolerance from physiological, genetic, epigenetic, and multi-omics perspectives.
S. Peng, Mingliang Jiang, Xiaonan Li· Horticulturae· 0 citations
Silicon (Si) is widely recognized as a beneficial element that can improve plant performance under salt stress. However, a comprehensive understanding of its biological functions requires moving beyond isolated physiological responses toward an integrated view of plant signaling and rhizosphere processes. This narrative review critically synthesizes current evidence and proposes an “inside–outside” framework for Si-associated salt-stress mitigation. Internally, Si treatment has been reported to influence phytohormone homeostasis, particularly abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid, while also affecting Ca2+-, nitric oxide-, and reactive oxygen species-related processes. These changes are associated with the regulation of stomatal behavior, root water transport, ion homeostasis, osmotic adjustment, antioxidant defense, and stress-responsive gene expression. Rather than acting as a universally established signal integrator, Si may modify the operating state, magnitude, and recovery kinetics of pre-existing stress-response networks by stabilizing membranes, restricting excessive Na+ accumulation, preserving K+ retention, and buffering cellular redox conditions. Externally, Si application can alter rhizosphere physicochemical properties, root-associated metabolites, and microbial community assembly. Si-associated enrichment of plant-beneficial microorganisms may contribute to nutrient cycling, ionic and osmotic regulation, redox protection, and plant growth, while microbial metabolites may reciprocally influence plant signaling and metabolism. Nevertheless, most microbiome functions remain inferred from community profiles and correlations, and causal validation is currently limited to a small number of experimental systems. Si uptake, transport, and spatial deposition provide the physiological basis for these interconnected responses, but their magnitude depends on plant species, genotype, Si-accumulation capacity, formulation, dose, application route, and stress intensity. This integrated framework identifies Si as a context-dependent modulator of plant–rhizosphere interactions and provides a mechanistic basis for developing precise and sustainable Si-based salinity-management strategies.
Abiotic stress, including drought, salinity, heavy metals, and extreme temperatures, severely limits plant growth, productivity, and survival. These stresses frequently occur simultaneously and disrupt cellular homeostasis, photosynthesis, and metabolic processes. To cope with such adverse conditions, plants activate complex physiological, biochemical, and molecular defense mechanisms. Among the emerging stress-related signaling compounds, β-cyclocitral, a β-carotene-derived apocarotenoid, has gained significant attention due to its crucial role in plant stress adaptation. β-Cyclocitral enhances photoprotection by scavenging free radicals and reducing singlet oxygen-mediated damage to photosynthetic machinery. It also modulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis through the activation of antioxidant defense systems, thereby minimizing oxidative stress. In parallel, key phytohormones such as abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), and salicylic acid (SA) regulate diverse stress-responsive pathways that improve plant tolerance and defense. Increasing evidence suggests that β-cyclocitral interacts closely with these hormonal signaling networks to coordinate stress responses and metabolic adjustments. This review highlights recent advances in the biosynthesis, physiological functions, and signaling roles of β-cyclocitral, with particular emphasis on its mechanistic crosstalk with ABA, JA, and SA pathways in enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in plants.
P. Alam, M. Faizan, Thamer H. Albalawi et al.· Frontiers in Plant Science· 0 citations
