Promoter-Level Regulation of Melatonin Biosynthesis in Plant Stress Responses: A Framework for Climate-Resilient Crop Improvement.

Systems-Level Integration of Stress Signaling, Multi-Omics, and Predictive Breeding for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Brassica Crops

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.

Melatonin-Mediated Coordination of ROS Signaling, Physiological, and Hormonal Networks under Drought Stress

: Drought stress stands out as a main abiotic factor that adversely influences the development, yield, and quality of plants. With the increasing prevalence of water scarcity driven by climate change, urban expansion, and industrial activities, understanding plant responses to limited water availability has become critically important. Among stress-related molecules, melatonin has gained recognition as a multipurpose regulator with a central role in strengthening plant tolerance to drought. The synthesis and accumulation of melatonin are influenced by environmental stressors and vary across plant species and tissue types. Whether synthesized internally or applied externally, melatonin contributes to drought mitigation by neutralizing reactive oxygen species (ROS), boosting the activity of enzymatic antioxidants, and modulating levels of non-enzymatic defense compounds. Additionally, it regulates stress-responsive genes and activates defense pathways intermediated by key phytohormones such as abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic, and gibberellins. Melatonin’s interaction with other hormonal signals including auxins, cytokinins, jasmonates, and ethylene creates a dynamic network of hormonal crosstalk that further strengthens plant tolerance mechanisms. Its beneficial effects are evident in improved photosynthetic efficiency, optimized stomatal behavior, enhanced seed germination, and stimulated root development. This review focus on the effects of melatonin in plants under drought conditions, highlighting its interplay with other signaling molecules and hormonal pathways. It further highlights recent progress and strategic approaches for utilizing melatonin in developing drought-resilient cultivars and enhancing agricultural sustainability.

Genetic and Molecular Mechanisms of Plant Stress Tolerance and Strategies for Improvement: A Comprehensive Review

Traditional breeding and modern techniques like Marker-Assisted Selection, Genetic Engineering, Genome Editing and Genomic Selection are used to identify and integrate desirable traits into new crop varieties, enabling breeders to develop more robust and stable crops.

Negative regulators that mitigate abiotic stress sensitivity of rice: insights and future perspectives

Advances in hydrogen-rich water for plant abiotic stress management: antioxidant regulation, hormonal crosstalk, and signal integration

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.

Trichoderma-Enabled Crop Resilience Under Abiotic Stress: From Field Delivery to Systems-Level Stress Reprogramming

The synthesis shows that selected crop–strain systems improve root architecture, photosynthesis, antioxidant regulation, osmotic adjustment, nutrient acquisition, ion homeostasis, hormonal balance, and stress-responsive gene expression, and biochar co-application should not be interpreted as a carrier formulation without direct validation.