Chapter 3 - Physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of plant steroid hormones brassinosteroids under drought-induced oxidative stress in plants

Abstract

As sessile organisms, plants are constantly exposed to diverse environmental conditions. Abiotic stresses can be considered as the most severe adverse conditions that plants may face. Among them drought stress is responsible for great amounts of lost in production and this scenario is expected to be more frequent as we are facing global temperature changes. Drought is responsible for major losses in productivity, mainly due to drastic alterations in plant physiology and biochemistry. Plants have demonstrated extensive physiological, biochemical, cellular, and molecular adaptation to drought stress, thus enabling them to survive. Under stress condition plants accumulate numerous phytohormones (PHs) and osmolytes, which have an important role to survive against abiotic stresses. Among PHs, brassinosteroids (BRs) play a vital role in response to plants to survive against abiotic stresses including drought. BRs are a group of plant phytohormones that have emerged as a crucial regulator in plant growth, development, and stress response by coordinating numerous physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes. BRs also control a wide range of physiological and developmental processes by coupling with other phytohormones such as auxin, jasmonic acid, and abscisic acid and other plant signaling pathways. The chapter aims to highlight the concept, emerging roles, physiological, biochemical, cellular, and molecular mechanisms of BRs under drought-induced oxidative stress in plants.