Decoding Plant Resilience: Genomic Insights into Stress Response Mechanisms

Plant biology and computational genomics have converged to create unprecedented opportunities for understanding how plants perceive, process, and respond to a wide range of environmental challenges. Over the past decade, research has illuminated complex molecular mechanisms underlying biotic and abiotic stress responses (e.g., fungal, bacterial and viral infections; drought, heat, salinity and, oxidative stress), including the roles of gene regulation, protein dynamics, and metabolic adaptation. These mechanisms have been extensively studied in crop plants such as rice, wheat, maize and, soybean, as well as model systems like Arabidopsis thaliana. Despite these advances, key knowledge gaps persist, particularly concerning how multi-omic layers interact to shape stress tolerance and adaptation at the systems level, particularly under combined or sequential stress (e.g., heat and drought, salinity and oxidative stress). Recent computational innovations and high-resolution structural datasets now enable deeper exploration of evolutionary and functional patterns that dictate plant resilience. However, an integrative framework linking genomics, proteomics, and biophysics to phenotypic outcomes in crop plants remains in development, highlighting the urgent need for interdisciplinary research to connect the molecular to the organismal scale.

This Research Topic aims to advance the comprehensive understanding of plant stress resilience through computational genomics, bioinformatics, and structural biology. It seeks to elucidate the genetic and molecular determinants of stress adaptation by analyzing large-scale multi-omics datasets and modeling molecular interactions. Key questions include how genomic variation shapes stress tolerance, how structural modifications support protein stability under biotic and abiotic stress conditions, and how biophysical constraints influence adaptation pathways. By fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue between computational scientists, biologists, and agronomists, this initiative aspires to identify novel biomarkers and predictive models that can guide the development of robust, climate-resilient crops capable of withstanding multiple and interacting biotic and abiotic stresses.

To gather further insights into the genomic and structural bases of stress adaptation in plants, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Integrative computational approaches for multi-omics data analysis in plants under biotic and abiotic stresses
• Evolutionary genomics of stress response pathways
• Structural bioinformatics and protein dynamics under stress conditions
• Systems-level models of plant stress signaling, cross talk and adaptation under single and combined stress conditions
• Algorithmic and biophysical innovations for resilience prediction
• Applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in plant stress genomics
• Translational research linking computational insights to crop improvement programs targeting stress tolerance in major crops.

Article types and fees

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

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... 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
• Case Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Plant Resilience, Genomic Insights, Stress Response Mechanisms, Multi-Omics Integration, Climate Resilient Crops, Synthetic Biology, Biotic and Abiotic Stress Tolerance

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.