Integrative Regulatory Layers in Plant Stress Adaptation: From Epigenetics to Proteome Integrity

Plants are continually exposed to dynamic environmental stresses, including fluctuations in temperature, light intensity, and nutrient availability. Two critical strategies for adaptive resilience are epigenetic regulation—such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs, and protein quality control systems, including molecular chaperones, the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, and autophagy.

Recent studies highlight a sophisticated interplay between these two regulatory layers: epigenetic marks not only orchestrate stress-responsive gene expression but also influence the synthesis and stability of proteins crucial for adaptation. Concurrently, protein quality control mechanisms maintain proteome integrity under stress and may provide feedback to modulate epigenetic states. Understanding how these layers converge offers new opportunities for identifying key molecular nodes that enhance resilience and yield stability in crops facing climate challenges.

This Research Topic seeks to clarify how plant adaptation to environmental challenges is governed by the integration of epigenetic modifications and protein quality control pathways. Unraveling these connections will provide key insights into how plants achieve resilience and may identify targets for engineering stress-tolerant crops to support sustainable agriculture.

We invite submissions focusing on, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Interplay between epigenetic regulation, transcriptional/post-transcriptional control, and proteostasis in shaping plant stress responses.
• Mechanisms by which DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs regulate protein quality control pathways.
• Crosstalk between chromatin dynamics and translational control in shaping stress-responsive proteomes.
• Epigenetic memory and its integration with proteome stability during recurrent or transgenerational stress adaptation.
• Methodological or case studies, including computational and AI-driven approaches, which elucidate genome-to-proteome coordination under stress.

Article types and fees

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

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• ... 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:

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Plant Stress Response, Plant Protein Quality Control, Epigenetic Regulation, Plant Environmental Resilience, Transcriptional Adaptation

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.