Cell signaling during drought and/or cold stress in cassava

Abstract

Cassava (<italic>Manihot esculenta</italic> Crantz) is a root crop significant in food security and various bio-industrial applications such as animal feed, modified starch, and biofuels. Drought and cold stress are two major factors limiting cassava production qualitatively and quantitatively, for which plants have evolved mechanisms to overcome the impact of these two stressors. In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in understanding the response mechanism of cassava plants to stress signals to tolerate the above stresses. In this review, core stress-signaling pathways, including transcription factor (TF)-related regulatory networks, plant hormone signaling, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, and non-coding RNA (ncRNA) and alternative splicing (AS) that modify gene expression levels in response to drought and/or cold stress in cassava, are summarized. Understanding these stress signaling and responses will increase our ability to improve the crops tolerance to multiple stresses for agricultural sustainability and food security for the growing world population.