Abstract
Abiotic stressors, such as drought, heavy metals, and high salinity, are causing huge crop losses worldwide. These abiotic stressors are expected to become more extreme, less predictable, and more widespread in the near future. With the rapidly growing human population and changing global climate conditions, it is critical to prevent global crop losses to meet the increasing demand for food and other crop products. The reactive gaseous signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) is involved in numerous plant developmental processes as well as plant responses to various abiotic stresses through its interactions with various molecules. Together, these interactions lead to the homeostasis of reactive oxygen species (ROS), proline and glutathione biosynthesis, post-translational modifications such as S-nitrosylation, and modulation of gene and protein expression. Exogenous application of various NO donors positively mitigates the negative effects of various abiotic stressors. In view of the multidimensional role of this signaling molecule, research over the past decade has investigated its potential in alleviating the deleterious effects of various abiotic stressors, particularly in ROS homeostasis. In this review, we highlight the recent molecular and physiological advances that provide insights into the functional role of NO in mediating various abiotic stress responses in plants.
Highlights
Various abiotic stressors such as heavy metals, high salinity, high or low temperature, UV radiation, and drought pose serious threats to plants and are detrimental to agriculture and the ecosystem, resulting in major losses [1,2]
These results suggest that Nitric Oxide (NO) has a negative effect on root growth and development under Cd stress
sodium nitroprusside (SNP) treatment modulates the expression of several metal transporters such as natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (NRAMP), nodulin 26-like intrinsic protein (NIP), and ATP-binding cassette protein (ABC), stress-related genes, transcription factors, and secondary metabolism genes [142,143]
Summary
Various abiotic stressors such as heavy metals, high salinity, high or low temperature, UV radiation, and drought pose serious threats to plants and are detrimental to agriculture and the ecosystem, resulting in major losses [1,2]. In most of the experimental studies (Tables 1 and 2), a 100 μM aqueous SNP (NO donor) solution has been shown as the best dose, with some studies showing 200 as well, releasing nanomolar amounts of NO In plants, it is involved in the regulation of a number of physiological processes, such as stomatal movement (Figure 1) [16], photosynthesis [17], induction of apoptosis [18], senescence [19], floral regulation [20], seed germination [21], lateral root formation [22], adventitious root formation [23], regulation of cellulose content in roots (Figure 2) [24], and various responses to abiotic and biotic stresses, sometimes in interaction with other hormones [12,25,26].
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