About this Research Topic
The tropics are either the center of origin or domestication of many of the economically important crops currently cultivated in the world. Tropical food, forage, cash and plantation crops are grown on more than 500 million hectares in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Abiotic stresses, such as drought, heat, cold, nutrient deficiency, salinity, and heavy metal toxicity, are the major constraints for the growth and productivity of tropical crops, thereby threatening food, nutritional and economic security in the tropics. It is critical to improve knowledge on mechanisms of tolerance to abiotic stress by tropical crops. An improved understanding of the physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses and tolerance mechanisms, along with the discovery of novel stress-responsive pathways and genes, may contribute to efficient breeding strategies that could improve abiotic stress tolerance. These strategies are crucial for the genetic enhancement of tropical crop varieties with improved abiotic stress tolerance.
Tropical crops have evolved a number of complex mechanisms for tolerance under abiotic stress conditions. These mechanisms contribute to greater physiological performance through stress perception, signal transduction, transcriptional activation of stress-responsive target genes, and synthesis of stress-related proteins, metabolites and other molecules. Exploration, innovation and utilization of elite germplasm and gene resources in tropical crops are critical for developing a number of abiotic stress tolerant tropical crop cultivars. Integration of multi-omic-based techniques with conventional breeding efforts could vastly improve the efficiency of screening traits associated with abiotic stress tolerance. It is therefore imperative to accelerate the efforts to unravel the mechanisms underlying abiotic stress tolerance in tropical crops.
This Research Topic aims to collect the recent advances and knowledge on physiological, molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying the adaptation of tropical crops to abiotic stresses. It will include contributions covering physiological, molecular, biochemical, and multi-omic approaches. We welcome submissions of original research, reviews and methods, including but not limited to study on the following topics:
1. Phenotyping of tropical crops in response to abiotic stresses, such as drought, heat, cold, nutrient deficiency, salinity, and heavy metal toxicity.
2. Investigation of seeds of tropical crops in response to abiotic stress.
3. Physiological, molecular, and genetic mechanisms underlying adaptation of tropical crops to abiotic stress.
4. Functional validation of key genes involved in abiotic stress tolerance.
5. Multi-omics analysis for tropical crop improvement in response to abiotic stress.
Please note: Descriptive studies reporting responses of growth, yield or quality to abiotic stress will not be considered if they do not progress significant mechanistic or physiological insights of these responses.
Tropical crops have evolved a number of complex mechanisms for tolerance under abiotic stress conditions. These mechanisms contribute to greater physiological performance through stress perception, signal transduction, transcriptional activation of stress-responsive target genes, and synthesis of stress-related proteins, metabolites and other molecules. Exploration, innovation and utilization of elite germplasm and gene resources in tropical crops are critical for developing a number of abiotic stress tolerant tropical crop cultivars. Integration of multi-omic-based techniques with conventional breeding efforts could vastly improve the efficiency of screening traits associated with abiotic stress tolerance. It is therefore imperative to accelerate the efforts to unravel the mechanisms underlying abiotic stress tolerance in tropical crops.
This Research Topic aims to collect the recent advances and knowledge on physiological, molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying the adaptation of tropical crops to abiotic stresses. It will include contributions covering physiological, molecular, biochemical, and multi-omic approaches. We welcome submissions of original research, reviews and methods, including but not limited to study on the following topics:
1. Phenotyping of tropical crops in response to abiotic stresses, such as drought, heat, cold, nutrient deficiency, salinity, and heavy metal toxicity.
2. Investigation of seeds of tropical crops in response to abiotic stress.
3. Physiological, molecular, and genetic mechanisms underlying adaptation of tropical crops to abiotic stress.
4. Functional validation of key genes involved in abiotic stress tolerance.
5. Multi-omics analysis for tropical crop improvement in response to abiotic stress.
Please note: Descriptive studies reporting responses of growth, yield or quality to abiotic stress will not be considered if they do not progress significant mechanistic or physiological insights of these responses.
Keywords: Tropical crops, Abiotic stress, Stress tolerance, Multi-omics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
