Nitric Oxide Improves Salt Tolerance of Cyclocarya paliurus by Regulating Endogenous Glutathione Level and Antioxidant Capacity

Review on nitric oxide at the forefront of rapid systemic signaling in mitigation of salinity stress in plants: Crosstalk with calcium and hydrogen peroxide

Soil salinity is a global issue that limits plant growth in agricultural fields and contributes to food crisis. Salt stressors impede plant's ionic, osmotic, and oxidative balance, as well as a variety of physiological functions. Exposure to salinity stress manifest considerable ROS clustering, entailing modification in performance of various organelles. To deal with salinity, plants use a variety of coping strategies, such as osmoregulation, ion-homeostasis, increased antioxidant synthesis, and so on. Nitric oxide (NO) is a pivotal signalling molecule that helps facilitate salt stress-induced physiological plant responses. A variety of evidences point to NO being produced under similar stress conditions and with similar kinetics as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The interplay between H2O2 and NO has important functional implications for modulating plant transduction processes. Besides, NO and calcium (Ca2+)-dependent pathways also have some connection in salt stress response mechanisms. Extensive crosstalk between NO and Ca2+ signalling pathways is investigated, and it suggests that almost every type of Ca2+ channel is under the tight control of NO, and NO acts as a Ca2+ mobilising compound and aids in signal reliance. The review provides insights into understanding recent advances regarding NO's, Ca2+ and H2O2 role in salt stress reduction with entwine signaling mechanisms.

Salinity Stress Tolerance in Plants

Soil salinization negatively impacts plant development and induces land degradation, thus affecting biodiversity, water quality, crop production, farmers' well-being, and the economic situation in the affected region. Plant germination, growth, and productivity are vital processes impaired by salinity stress; thus, it is considered a serious threat to agriculture. The extent to which a plant is affected by salinity depends mainly on the species, but other factors, including soil attributes, water, and climatic conditions, also affect a plant's ability to tolerate salinity stress. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is expected to be exacerbated further by climate change. Consequently, studies on salt stress tolerance in plants represent an important theme for the present Special Issue of Plants. The present Special Issue contains 14 original contributions that have documented novel discoveries regarding induced or natural variations in plant genotypes to cope with salt stress, including molecular biology, biochemistry, physiology, genetics, cell biology, modern omics, and bioinformatic approaches. This Special Issue also includes the impact of biostimulants on the biochemical, physiological, and molecular mechanisms of plants to deal with salt stress and on the effects of salinity on plant nutrient status. We expect that readers and academia will benefit from all the articles included in this Special Issue.

Functions of NO and H2S Signal Molecules Against Plant Abiotic Stress

Nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) are two recognized signal molecules in higher plants involved in a wide range of physiological processes and the mechanisms of response against adverse environmental conditions. These molecules can interact to provide an adequate response to palliate the negative impact exerted by stressful conditions, particularly by regulating key components of the metabolism of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to avoid their overproduction and further oxidative damage which, finally, affects cellular functioning. NO and H₂S can exert the regulation over the function of susceptible proteins by posttranslational modifications (PTMs) including nitration, S-nitrosation, and persulfidation but also through the regulation of gene expression by the induction of specific transcription factors which modulate the expression of genes encoding proteins related to stress resistance. This chapter encompasses a wide perspective of the signaling and functional relationships between NO and H₂S to modulate the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, particularly under abiotic stress conditions.