Recent advances in the characterization of plant transcriptomes in response to drought, salinity, heat, and cold stress

Abstract

Despite recent advancements in plant molecular biology and biotechnology, providing food security for an increasing world population remains a challenge. Drought (water scarcity), salinity, heat, and cold stress are considered major limiting factors that affect crop production both qualitatively and quantitatively. Therefore, the development of cost-effective and environmentally friendly strategies will be needed to resolve these agricultural problems. This will require a comprehensive understanding of transcriptomic alterations that occur in plants in response to varying levels of environmental stresses, singly and in combination. Here, we briefly discuss the current status and future challenges in plant research related to understanding transcriptional changes that occur in response to drought, salinity, heat, and cold stress.

Keywords: Cold Stress; Drought Stress; Heat Stress; Microarray Analysis; RNA Seq Analysis; Salinity Stress; Transcriptomic analysis.

Figure 1.. Transcriptomic analysis under drought, salinity, heat, and cold stress.

The focus of research is shifting from model plants to field crops; from whole plants to tissue and single-cell analysis; from functional and regulatory proteins to non-coding RNAs, small peptides, and post-transcriptional and epigenomic regulation; from laboratory conditions to field conditions; and from microarray to RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis.