Responses of Extreme Environment Plants to Abiotic Stress

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2024) | Viewed by 5889

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratorio de Fisiología y Biología Molecular Vegetal, Instituto de Agroindustria, Departamento de Ciencias Agronómicas y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales & Center of Plant, Soil Interaction and Natural Resources Biotechnology, Scientific and Technological Bioresource Nucleus, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 1145, Chile
Interests: Antarctic plant science; climate change; abiotic stress physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratorio de Fisiología y Biología Molecular Vegetal, Instituto de Agroindustria, Departamento de Ciencias Agronómicas y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Medioambiente, Temuco, Chile e Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Concepción, Chile
Interests: Antarctic plant science; plant physiology; abiotic stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Extremophytes are plants capable of inhabiting environments characterized by harsh abiotic conditions that limit the fundamental metabolic and physiological processes. Therefore, disentangling the ecophysiological traits enabling these species to withstand the harsh conditions becomes highly attractive. Thus, one of the most interesting aspects to study extremophile plants is the possibility to identify key traits and genes for plant adaptation to unfavorable climatic conditions, which may result in a potential tool for developing novel stress-resistant genotypes. Additionally, most extremophile environments have been identified as areas strongly affected by climate change (Antarctica, Arctic, high mountains), which further increases the interest in studying these singular species and further complicates their responses against abiotic stress. Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to consolidate a set of articles which examine the physiological, molecular, and biochemical mechanisms behind the singularity of extremophile plant species in terms of adaptation/acclimation to harsh environments as reservoirs of stress resistance mechanisms and the challenges they face in dealing with the current scenario of climate change.

Prof. Dr. León A. Bravo
Dr. Patricia Sáez
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  •  high elevation
  •  low and high temperature
  •  permafrost
  •  snow cover
  •  deserts and extreme drought
  •  desiccation tolerance
  •  hypersaline environments
  •  high irradiance
  •  UV-radiation
  •  oxidative damage
  •  ice encasement
  •  hypoxia

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 3329 KiB  
Article
Metabolomic Profile and Functional State of Oat Plants (Avena sativa L.) Sown under Low-Temperature Conditions in the Cryolithozone
by Vasiliy V. Nokhsorov, Fedor F. Protopopov, Igor V. Sleptsov, Lidia V. Petrova and Klim A. Petrov
Plants 2024, 13(8), 1076; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13081076 - 11 Apr 2024
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Abstract
Oats are one of the most useful and widespread cereal crops in the world. In permafrost conditions (Central Yakutia), based on metabolic changes in late summer-sown oat plants (Avena sativa L.), the key processes involved in the cold acclimation of a valuable [...] Read more.
Oats are one of the most useful and widespread cereal crops in the world. In permafrost conditions (Central Yakutia), based on metabolic changes in late summer-sown oat plants (Avena sativa L.), the key processes involved in the cold acclimation of a valuable cereal species were identified. During the onset of low ambient temperatures, metabolites from leaf samples were profiled using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA). A total of 41 metabolites were identified in oat leaves. It was found that acclimation to suboptimal temperatures during the fall period leads to biochemical (accumulation of mono- and disaccharides and decrease in fatty acids and polyols) as well as physiological and biophysical changes (decrease in leaf PRI reflectance indices and chlorophyll a fluorescence). Therefore, the study contributes to a more holistic understanding of oat metabolism under low-temperature cryolithozone stress. It is believed that the analysis of changes in leaf reflection properties and JIP-test parameters of chlorophyll a fluorescence using leaf metabolomic profiling can be used in the selection of valuable varieties of cereal crops to obtain plant fodders with high nutrient contents under conditions of a sharply continental climate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Extreme Environment Plants to Abiotic Stress)
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15 pages, 6135 KiB  
Article
ScATG8 Gene Cloned from Desert Moss Syntrichia caninervis Exhibits Multiple Stress Tolerance
by Ting Cao, Yakupjan Haxim, Xiujin Liu, Qilin Yang, Amangul Hawar, Abdul Waheed, Xiaoshuang Li and Daoyuan Zhang
Plants 2024, 13(1), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13010059 - 23 Dec 2023
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Abstract
Syntrichia caninervis is the dominant species of biological soil crust in the desert, including the Gurbantunggut Desert in China. It is widely distributed in drylands and considered to be a new model of vegetative desiccation tolerance moss. Here, we cloned an ATG8 gene [...] Read more.
Syntrichia caninervis is the dominant species of biological soil crust in the desert, including the Gurbantunggut Desert in China. It is widely distributed in drylands and considered to be a new model of vegetative desiccation tolerance moss. Here, we cloned an ATG8 gene from S. caninervis and confirmed its function under multiple abiotic stresses, both in situ and in Physcomitrium patens. The results showed that the ScATG8 gene encoded a protein with a highly conserved ATG8 functional domain. ScATG8 gene was increasingly expressed under different abiotic stresses. Under desiccation stress, the overexpression of ScATG8 enhanced the tolerance of S. caninervis and its ability to scavenge ROS. In addition, ScATG8 overexpression promoted the growth of P. patens under multiple stress conditions. Thus, ScATG8 may be a multifunctional gene, and it plays a critical role in the survival of S. caninervis under various abiotic stresses. Our results provide new insights into the function of ATG8 in enabling desiccation tolerance and open up more possibilities for subsequent plant molecular breeding and the mining of the resistance genes of S. caninervis and other moss species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Extreme Environment Plants to Abiotic Stress)
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Review

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18 pages, 2219 KiB  
Review
Ecophysiology of Antarctic Vascular Plants: An Update on the Extreme Environment Resistance Mechanisms and Their Importance in Facing Climate Change
by Constanza F. Ramírez, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Carolina Sanhueza, Valentina Vallejos, Olman Gómez-Espinoza, León A. Bravo and Patricia L. Sáez
Plants 2024, 13(3), 449; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13030449 - 3 Feb 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2586
Abstract
Antarctic flowering plants have become enigmatic because of their unique capability to colonize Antarctica. It has been shown that there is not a single trait that makes Colobanthus quitensis and Deschampsia antarctica so special, but rather a set of morphophysiological traits that coordinately [...] Read more.
Antarctic flowering plants have become enigmatic because of their unique capability to colonize Antarctica. It has been shown that there is not a single trait that makes Colobanthus quitensis and Deschampsia antarctica so special, but rather a set of morphophysiological traits that coordinately confer resistance to one of the harshest environments on the Earth. However, both their capacity to inhabit Antarctica and their uniqueness remain not fully explained from a biological point of view. These aspects have become more relevant due to the climatic changes already impacting Antarctica. This review aims to compile and update the recent advances in the ecophysiology of Antarctic vascular plants, deepen understanding of the mechanisms behind their notable resistance to abiotic stresses, and contribute to understanding their potential responses to environmental changes. The uniqueness of Antarctic plants has prompted research that emphasizes the role of leaf anatomical traits and cell wall properties in controlling water loss and CO2 exchange, the role of Rubisco kinetics traits in facilitating efficient carbon assimilation, and the relevance of metabolomic pathways in elucidating key processes such as gas exchange, nutrient uptake, and photoprotection. Climate change is anticipated to have significant and contrasting effects on the morphophysiological processes of Antarctic species. However, more studies in different locations outside Antarctica and using the latitudinal gradient as a natural laboratory to predict the effects of climate change are needed. Finally, we raise several questions that should be addressed, both to unravel the uniqueness of Antarctic vascular species and to understand their potential responses to climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Extreme Environment Plants to Abiotic Stress)
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