Abstract
Plants being sessile in nature are often challenged to various abiotic stresses including temperature fluctuations, water supply, salinity, and nutrient availability. Exposure of plants to such environmental perturbations result in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells. To scavenge ROS, enzymatic and molecular antioxidants are produced at a cellular level. ROS act as a signaling entity at lower concentrations maintaining normal growth and development, but if their levels increase beyond certain threshold, they produce toxic effects in plants. Some developmental stages, such as development of reproductive organs are more sensitive to abiotic stress than other stages of growth. As success of plant reproductive development is directly correlated with grain yield, stresses coinciding with reproductive phase results in the higher yield losses. In this article, we summarize the redox control of plant reproductive development, and elaborate how redox homeostasis is compromised during abiotic stress exposure. We highlight why more emphasis should be given to understand redox control of plant reproductive organ development during abiotic stress exposure96to engineer crops with better crop yield. We specifically discuss the role of ROS as a signaling molecule and its cross-talk with other signaling molecules such as hormones and sugars.
Highlights
The entire life cycle of flowering plants is a succession of distinct growth phases, where plants depict various developmental stages
The sperm cell release from pollen tube is a redox (ROS) dependent process. It is regulated through FERONIA (FER) receptor kinase which induces the production of high reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, especially hydroxyl radicals, at the entrance of female gametophyte to facilitate the rupture of pollen tube in a calcium dependent manner (Duan et al, 2014)
Stress-induced redox imbalance due to inefficient antioxidant system or alterations in the sugar metabolism could lead to higher ROS accumulation, which results in programmed cell death (PCD) of developing microspores/megaspores, leading to male sterility or ovule abortion
Summary
The entire life cycle of flowering plants is a succession of distinct growth phases, where plants depict various developmental stages. The growth phase between seed germination and vegetative maturity is termed as “vegetative-phase”; and the subsequent phase including formation of reproductive organs, sexual reproduction, and seed set is termed as “reproductive-phase.” Plant performance in these growth phases, and transition from vegetative to reproductive phase is under tight control of genetic network (Huijser and Schmid, 2011). Signaling mediators such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), calcium, and phytohormones play crucial roles in integrating information from various endogenous and environmental cues, regulating plant growth and developmental transitions (Kocsy et al, 2013; Considine and Foyer, 2014; Traverso et al, 2014). Redox state is regulated by various sugars and amino acids, which apart from playing role in plant metabolism are considered an integral part of ROS scavenging machinery (Bolouri-Moghaddam et al, 2010; Hayat et al, 2012; Matros et al, 2015)
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