Multi-Omics Strategies for Salinity and Drought Stress Mitigation in Agriculture

Plant abiotic stresses such as salinity and drought significantly impede plant growth and agricultural yield globally. Despite advancements, environmental adversities continue to challenge plant productivity, necessitating the development of cultivars resistant to these stresses. To decode the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underpin stress tolerance and enhancement in crop plants, omics technologies have seen extensive application in recent years. This empirical approach has yielded insights into genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, crucial for regulating abiotic stress responses in crops. However, there are ongoing challenges and bottlenecks that need to be addressed to fully harness the potential of these omics tools.

This Research Topic aims to explore and expand the intersection of multi-omics technologies and crop science to enhance plant tolerance to salinity and drought conditions. The focus is on elucidating how these technologies can advance our understanding and implementation of effective breeding strategies to develop robust, stress-tolerant crops. Furthermore, the integration of cutting-edge technologies like CRISPR/Cas9 for genome editing represents a significant prospective advancement for molecular breeding aimed at improving stress resilience in crops.

To gather further insights into effective strategies for coping with abiotic stresses in agriculture, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Applications of omics technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phenomics, and ionomics to enhance crop genetics and breeding

• Challenges in integrating multi-omics for functional gene analysis and trait development for crop improvement

• The utilization of panomics platforms for constructing predictive models of complex traits

• Systems biology approaches to better understand molecular regulatory networks involved in crop stress responses

• Innovative strategies for linking phenotypic outcomes with genomic data to drive crop improvement

We welcome submissions of Original Research, Systematic Review, Methods, and Review manuscripts focused on these research themes.

Descriptive studies that report responses to abiotic stress treatments without contributing to the mechanistic, or genetic, understanding of the responses observed will not be considered for peer review.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: salinity, drought, tolerance, crop breeding, multiomics, genome editing, Genetic Diversity, Resiliency

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.