Drought, Salt, and Temperature Stress-induced Metabolic Rearrangements and Regulatory Networks

Overview

Journal J Exp Bot

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Biology

Date 2012 Feb 1

PMID 22291134

Citations 606

Authors

Julia Krasensky

Claudia Jonak

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Plants regularly face adverse growth conditions, such as drought, salinity, chilling, freezing, and high temperatures. These stresses can delay growth and development, reduce productivity, and, in extreme cases, cause plant death. Plant stress responses are dynamic and involve complex cross-talk between different regulatory levels, including adjustment of metabolism and gene expression for physiological and morphological adaptation. In this review, information about metabolic regulation in response to drought, extreme temperature, and salinity stress is summarized and the signalling events involved in mediating stress-induced metabolic changes are presented.

Citing Articles

contributes to cold tolerance through dual regulation of soluble sugar accumulation and reactive oxygen species scavenging in .

Meng L, Zhou H, Tan L, Li Q, Hou Y, Li W Hortic Res. 2025; 12(4):uhae367.

PMID: 40078721 PMC: 11896968. DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhae367.

ATP deficiency triggers ganoderic acids accumulation via fatty acid β-oxidation pathway in Ganoderma lucidum.

Liu W, Sun Y, Yue S, Kong Y, Cong Q, Lan Y Microb Cell Fact. 2025; 24(1):62.

PMID: 40069729 PMC: 11900599. DOI: 10.1186/s12934-025-02668-2.

Physiological, ionomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses reveal molecular mechanisms of root adaption to salt stress in water spinach.

Li Z, Cheng L, Li S, Liu G, Liu S, Xu D BMC Genomics. 2025; 26(1):231.

PMID: 40069607 PMC: 11895166. DOI: 10.1186/s12864-025-11409-z.

Drought's physiological footprint: implications for crop improvement in rice.

Sagar S, Ramamoorthy P, Ramalingam S, Muthurajan R, Natarajan S, Doraiswamy U Mol Biol Rep. 2025; 52(1):298.

PMID: 40063283 DOI: 10.1007/s11033-025-10405-6.

The Effect of Heat Stress on Wheat Flag Leaves Revealed by Metabolome and Transcriptome Analyses During the Reproductive Stage.

Duan S, Meng X, Zhang H, Wang X, Kang X, Liu Z Int J Mol Sci. 2025; 26(4).

PMID: 40003947 PMC: 11855456. DOI: 10.3390/ijms26041468.

References

Chinnusamy V, Zhu J, Zhu J . Cold stress regulation of gene expression in plants. Trends Plant Sci. 2007; 12(10):444-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2007.07.002. View

Sakamoto A, Valverde R, Alia , Chen T, Murata N . Transformation of Arabidopsis with the codA gene for choline oxidase enhances freezing tolerance of plants. Plant J. 2000; 22(5):449-53. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-313x.2000.00749.x. View

Testerink C, Munnik T . Molecular, cellular, and physiological responses to phosphatidic acid formation in plants. J Exp Bot. 2011; 62(7):2349-61. DOI: 10.1093/jxb/err079. View

Pilon-Smits E, Ebskamp M, Paul M, Jeuken M, Weisbeek P, Smeekens S . Improved Performance of Transgenic Fructan-Accumulating Tobacco under Drought Stress. Plant Physiol. 1995; 107(1):125-130. PMC: 161174. DOI: 10.1104/pp.107.1.125. View

Sengupta S, Patra B, Ray S, Majumder A . Inositol methyl tranferase from a halophytic wild rice, Porteresia coarctata Roxb. (Tateoka): regulation of pinitol synthesis under abiotic stress. Plant Cell Environ. 2008; 31(10):1442-59. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01850.x. View

Nishizawa A, Yabuta Y, Yoshida E, Maruta T, Yoshimura K, Shigeoka S . Arabidopsis heat shock transcription factor A2 as a key regulator in response to several types of environmental stress. Plant J. 2006; 48(4):535-47. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2006.02889.x. View

Janz D, Behnke K, Schnitzler J, Kanawati B, Schmitt-Kopplin P, Polle A . Pathway analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome of salt sensitive and tolerant poplar species reveals evolutionary adaption of stress tolerance mechanisms. BMC Plant Biol. 2010; 10:150. PMC: 3095294. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2229-10-150. View

Van Dijken A, Schluepmann H, Smeekens S . Arabidopsis trehalose-6-phosphate synthase 1 is essential for normal vegetative growth and transition to flowering. Plant Physiol. 2004; 135(2):969-77. PMC: 514131. DOI: 10.1104/pp.104.039743. View

Park E, Jeknic Z, Sakamoto A, DeNoma J, Yuwansiri R, Murata N . Genetic engineering of glycinebetaine synthesis in tomato protects seeds, plants, and flowers from chilling damage. Plant J. 2004; 40(4):474-87. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2004.02237.x. View

10.

Patra B, Ray S, Richter A, Majumder A . Enhanced salt tolerance of transgenic tobacco plants by co-expression of PcINO1 and McIMT1 is accompanied by increased level of myo-inositol and methylated inositol. Protoplasma. 2010; 245(1-4):143-52. DOI: 10.1007/s00709-010-0163-3. View

11.

Alcazar R, Cuevas J, Planas J, Zarza X, Bortolotti C, Carrasco P . Integration of polyamines in the cold acclimation response. Plant Sci. 2011; 180(1):31-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2010.07.022. View

12.

Cutler S, Rodriguez P, Finkelstein R, Abrams S . Abscisic acid: emergence of a core signaling network. Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2010; 61:651-79. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-042809-112122. View

13.

Waditee R, Bhuiyan M, Rai V, Aoki K, Tanaka Y, Hibino T . Genes for direct methylation of glycine provide high levels of glycinebetaine and abiotic-stress tolerance in Synechococcus and Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005; 102(5):1318-23. PMC: 547866. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0409017102. View

14.

Takasaki H, Maruyama K, Kidokoro S, Ito Y, Fujita Y, Shinozaki K . The abiotic stress-responsive NAC-type transcription factor OsNAC5 regulates stress-inducible genes and stress tolerance in rice. Mol Genet Genomics. 2010; 284(3):173-83. DOI: 10.1007/s00438-010-0557-0. View

15.

Li H, Zang B, Deng X, Wang X . Overexpression of the trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene OsTPS1 enhances abiotic stress tolerance in rice. Planta. 2011; 234(5):1007-18. DOI: 10.1007/s00425-011-1458-0. View

16.

Gong Q, Li P, Ma S, Rupassara S, Bohnert H . Salinity stress adaptation competence in the extremophile Thellungiella halophila in comparison with its relative Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J. 2005; 44(5):826-39. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2005.02587.x. View

17.

Tetlow I, Morell M, Emes M . Recent developments in understanding the regulation of starch metabolism in higher plants. J Exp Bot. 2004; 55(406):2131-45. DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erh248. View

18.

Fougere F, Le Rudulier D, Streeter J . Effects of Salt Stress on Amino Acid, Organic Acid, and Carbohydrate Composition of Roots, Bacteroids, and Cytosol of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Plant Physiol. 1991; 96(4):1228-36. PMC: 1080920. DOI: 10.1104/pp.96.4.1228. View

19.

Kotting O, Kossmann J, Zeeman S, Lloyd J . Regulation of starch metabolism: the age of enlightenment?. Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2010; 13(3):321-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2010.01.003. View

20.

Maruyama K, Takeda M, Kidokoro S, Yamada K, Sakuma Y, Urano K . Metabolic pathways involved in cold acclimation identified by integrated analysis of metabolites and transcripts regulated by DREB1A and DREB2A. Plant Physiol. 2009; 150(4):1972-80. PMC: 2719109. DOI: 10.1104/pp.109.135327. View