Integrating physiological and molecular mechanisms of crop adaptation to abiotic stress

Abiotic stress biology in crops encompasses responses to drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, waterlogging, heavy metals, and nutrient imbalance, either individually or in combination. These stresses disrupt growth, metabolism, reproduction, and yield, while climate change is increasing their frequency, intensity, and co-occurrence. Although advances in plant physiology and molecular biology have revealed important mechanisms of stress perception, signaling, and acclimation, major questions remain about how molecular regulation is translated into whole-plant performance. Recent studies have highlighted the roles of osmotic adjustment, ion homeostasis, antioxidant systems, hormone signaling, root system remodeling, gene regulation, protein dynamics, and epigenetic mechanisms. However, many investigations remain restricted to individual traits, species, stress conditions, or levels of biological organization, limiting the identification of broadly applicable principles. An integrated and comparative approach is therefore needed to connect physiological phenotypes with their molecular determinants and to support the development of climate-resilient crops.

This Research Topic aims to elucidate the physiological and molecular mechanisms that enable crops to perceive, signal, tolerate, and recover from single or combined abiotic stresses. It will examine how stress-induced changes in whole-plant function are regulated by gene expression, protein activity, metabolic adjustment, hormone networks, regulatory pathways, and epigenetic processes. Studies may address stress responses across all developmental stages and crop species, including cereals, legumes, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, forages, and industrial crops. Particular emphasis will be placed on research that links physiological measurements with molecular analyses, establishes mechanistic relationships, compares responses across genotypes or species, or identifies processes with potential relevance to stress-resilience breeding and management.

To gather further insights into integrated mechanisms of crop responses to abiotic stress across species, developmental stages, stress types, and levels of biological organization, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

o Stress perception, signal transduction, and regulatory networks

o Osmotic adjustment, water relations, and cellular dehydration responses

o Ion transport, mineral homeostasis, and nutrient stress

o Photosynthesis, respiration, carbon allocation, and source–sink regulation

o Antioxidant defense, redox signaling, and oxidative stress

o Root architecture, rhizosphere interactions, and whole-plant resource acquisition

o Hormone biosynthesis, transport, crosstalk, and signaling

o Transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and multi-omics approaches

o Gene regulation, epigenetic mechanisms, and functional validation

o Physiological and molecular responses to combined or sequential stresses

o Comparative analyses across crop species, genotypes, or stress conditions

o Integrative phenotyping and mechanistic modeling

o Novel methods connecting physiological traits with molecular processes

Appendix: Article types include original research articles, reviews, methods papers, and comparative studies. Integrative experimental designs are particularly encouraged, whereas purely descriptive studies and investigations focused exclusively on either physiology or molecular biology are not prioritized.

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Article types and fees

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

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

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Abiotic stress, crop physiology, molecular mechanisms, drought, salinity, temperature stress, stress tolerance, gene expression, physiological adaptation, stress resilience, integrative approaches, climate 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.