Cold Metals Research Articles

Advancements in Rice Biotechnology for Enhanced Abiotic Stress Tolerance

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a vital crop globally, crucial for food security. However, its production faces increasing challenges from abiotic stresses such as drought, cold, heat, salinity, and heavy metals, exacerbated by climate change. This review explores biotechnological approaches aimed at enhancing rice's resilience to these stresses. Key strategies include genetic engineering for introducing stress-tolerant genes, modification of regulatory pathways involved in stress response, and enhancement of physiological adaptations. Advances in biotechnology offer promising avenues for developing rice varieties with improved tolerance to abiotic stress, thereby ensuring sustainable production in diverse agricultural environments.

Nanoparticles and their crosstalk with stress mitigators: A novel approach towards abiotic stress tolerance in agricultural systems

Plants are exposed to adverse environmental conditions, including cold, drought, heat, salinity, and heavy metals, which negatively impact plant growth and productivity of edible crops worldwide. Although the previous literature summarized the nanoparticle’s involvement in abiotic stress mitigation, the interaction of nanoparticles with other stress mitigators to overcome abiotic stress from plants remains unclear. Currently, nanotechnology is considered a growing new field in agriculture for understanding plants’ adapted stress tolerance mechanisms. Recent research has shown that nanoparticles can effectively mitigate abiotic stress by interacting synergistically with plant growth regulators. To address this, we comprehensively demonstrated the combined positive potential of nanoparticles in combination with plant growth regulators (signaling molecules, phytohormones, nanoparticles-nanoparticles interaction, fungi, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and other metal salts) to improve plant growth and mitigate abiotic stresses. Their co-applications augment the plant’s growth, nutrient uptake, antioxidant defense system, water absorption, cell viability, water use efficiency, and photosynthetic and biochemical attributes by reducing oxidative stressors under various abiotic stresses in different plant species. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the combined applications of nanoparticles and plant growth regulators, a novel strategy to reduce the harmful effects of abiotic stress on plants. It identifies research gaps and recommends future studies to overcome their phytotoxicity worldwide.

ROLE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANCE IN PLANTS

As population grows, abiotic stresses reduce plant growth and agricultural output, affecting global food security. Heat, cold, drought, salinity, and heavy metals affect crops. Heat stress from climate change disrupts cellular metabolism and lowers productivity. Tropical and subtropical crops suffer physiologically from cold stress. Climate variability affects drought, reducing crop output and germination. Salinity stunts growth and causes nutritional imbalances in big agricultural areas. Heavy metal buildup in soils threatens plant health. To overcome these problems, plants use osmotic adjustment, antioxidant defenses, and stress signaling pathways. CRISPR/Cas9 and other genetic engineering and molecular breeding methods may improve crop stress tolerance. Using omics technologies (genomics, transcriptomic, proteomics, and metabolomics) in breeding programs helps us understand stress tolerance processes and generate resilient crop types. This research is crucial for sustainable agriculture and global food security.

High-throughput approach to explore cold metals for electronic and thermoelectric devices

Cold metals with an energy gap around the Fermi level have been shown a great potential for reducing the power dissipation of transistors and diodes. However, only a limited number of 2D cold metals have been studied. In this work, we explored 3D cold metals through a systematic material search and found 252 types in the database. We performed first-principles calculations to investigate the conductance and work functions of 30 cold metals for material selection. Additionally, we studied the thermoelectric properties of four typical cold metals, which possess much larger Seebeck coefficients and figure-of-merits than conventional metals, by one and two orders of magnitude, respectively. Specifically, we constructed a monolayer MoS2 transistor with a cold metal contact of ZrRuSb. Our quantum transport simulations indicate that cold metal contacted MoS2 FETs exhibit a subthreshold swing smaller than 60 mV decade−1 over four decades, and on-state currents over 1 mA μm−1 are achieved at a supply voltage of 0.5 V. Our research provides a theoretical foundation and material basis for exploring 3D cold metals in developing electronic and thermoelectric devices.

P-type cold-source field-effect transistors with TcX 2 and ReX 2 (X = S, Se) cold source electrodes: A computational study

Cold-source field-effect transistors (CS-FETs) have been developed to overcome the major challenge of power dissipation in modern integrated circuits. Cold metals suitable for n-type CS-FETs have been proposed as the ideal electrode to filter the high-energy electrons and break the thermal limit on subthreshold swing (SS). In this work, regarding the p-type CS-FETs, we propose TcX 2 and ReX 2 (X = S, Se) as the injection source to realize the sub-thermal switching for holes. First-principles calculations unveils the cold-metal characteristics of monolayer TcX 2 and ReX 2, possessing a sub-gap below the Fermi level and a decreasing DOS with energy. Quantum device simulations demonstrate that TcX 2 and ReX 2 can enable the cold source effects in WSe2 p-type FETs, achieving steep SS of 29–38 mV/dec and high on/off ratios of (2.3–5.6) × 107. Moreover, multilayer ReS2 retains the cold metal characteristic, thus ensuring similar CS-FET performances to that of the monolayer source. This work underlines the significance of cold metals for the design of p-type CS-FETs.

Role of Dof Transcription Factors under Abiotic Stresses

For the survival of the rapidly growing global populace, plant species must exhibit tolerance towards climate change. Plants possess mechanisms to respond to stress by changing their biological processes and stimulating stress-responsive genes. The Dof (TFs) family, which binds to DNA with a single finger, reflects a plant-specific group of TFs that play an important part in regulating plants that are facing different types of abiotic stresses which may influence their growth and development. Discovery of this family has made a significant impact on the field of plant sciences. However, the characterization of Dof transcription factors in crop plants is currently limited reported. Several Dof transcription factors (TFs) of plants have been shown in nature. The transcription factors TaDofs, StDof, MnDofs, JrDof3TF, Va/VvDofs, GhDof1, OsDof1, SmeDof, ZmDof, CsDof, DcDof, CaDofs, ThDof, BraDof, and AcDof are important for abiotic stressors such heat, cold, salt, drought, and heavy metals. In addition, Dof transcription factors play a role in the regulation of factors related to yield and quality. Nevertheless, some outstanding issues remain. The review article provides a summary of the role of various stress-responsive Dof transcription factors in response to abiotic stresses. Additionally, this study investigates the limitations and possible opportunities associated with Dof transcription factors in the development of crops that are capable of withstanding climate change. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct comprehensive research on Dof transcription factors (TFs) across many different transcription factors fields to find their potential novel functionality, which will be beneficial to our retention of the delicate biological processes in plants.

Genome Editing and Improvement of Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Crop Plants.

Genome editing aims to revolutionise plant breeding and could assist in safeguarding the global food supply. The inclusion of a 12-40 bp recognition site makes mega nucleases the first tools utilized for genome editing and first generation gene-editing tools. Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are the second gene-editing technique, and because they create double-stranded breaks, they are more dependable and effective. ZFNs were the original designed nuclease-based approach of genome editing. The Cys2-His2 zinc finger domain's discovery made this technique possible. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are utilized to improve genetics, boost biomass production, increase nutrient usage efficiency, and develop disease resistance. Plant genomes can be effectively modified using genome-editing technologies to enhance characteristics without introducing foreign DNA into the genome. Next-generation plant breeding will soon be defined by these exact breeding methods. There is abroad promise that genome-edited crops will be essential in the years to come for improving the sustainability and climate-change resilience of food systems. This method also has great potential for enhancing crops' resistance to various abiotic stressors. In this review paper, we summarize the most recent findings about the mechanism of abiotic stress response in crop plants and the use of the CRISPR/Cas mediated gene-editing systems to improve tolerance to stresses including drought, salinity, cold, heat, and heavy metals.

Application of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing for abiotic stress management in crop plants.

Abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, cold, heat, and heavy metals, extensively reducing global agricultural production. Traditional breeding approaches and transgenic technology have been widely used to mitigate the risks of these environmental stresses. The discovery of engineered nucleases as genetic scissors to carry out precise manipulation in crop stress-responsive genes and associated molecular network has paved the way for sustainable management of abiotic stress conditions. In this context, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat-Cas (CRISPR/Cas)-based gene-editing tool has revolutionized due to its simplicity, accessibility, adaptability, flexibility, and wide applicability. This system has great potential to build up crop varieties with enhanced tolerance against abiotic stresses. In this review, we summarize the latest findings on understanding the mechanism of abiotic stress response in plants and the application of CRISPR/Cas-mediated gene-editing system towards enhanced tolerance to a multitude of stresses including drought, salinity, cold, heat, and heavy metals. We provide mechanistic insights on the CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing technology. We also discuss applications of evolving genome editing techniques such as prime editing and base editing, mutant library production, transgene free and multiplexing to rapidly deliver modern crop cultivars adapted to abiotic stress conditions.

Theoretical Prediction of Semiconductor-Free Negative Differential Resistance Tunnel Diodes with High Peak-to-Valley Current Ratios Based on Two-Dimensional Cold Metals

The negative differential resistance (NDR) tunnel diodes are promising alternative devices for beyond-CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) computing because they offer several potential applications when integrated with transistors. We propose a semiconductor-free NDR tunnel diode concept that exhibits an ultrahigh peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) value. Our proposed NDR diode consists of two cold metal electrodes separated by a thin insulating tunnel barrier. The NDR effect stems from the unique electronic band structure of the cold metal electrodes; i.e., the width of the isolated metallic bands around the Fermi level as well as the energy gaps separating higher- and lower-lying bands determine the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics and the PVCR value of the tunnel diode. By proper choice of the cold metal electrode materials, either a conventional N-type or Λ-type NDR effect can be obtained. Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials offer a unique platform for the realization of proposed NDR tunnel diodes. To demonstrate the proof of concept, we employ the nonequilibrium Green function method combined with density functional theory to calculate the I–V characteristic of the lateral (AlI2/MgI2/AlI2) and vertical (NbS2/h-BN/NbS2) heterojunction tunnel diodes based on 2D cold metals. For the lateral tunnel diode, we obtain a Λ-type NDR effect with an ultrahigh PVCR value of 1016 at room temperature, while the vertical tunnel diode exhibits a conventional N-type NDR effect with a smaller PVCR value of about 104. The proposed concept provides a semiconductor-free solution for NDR devices to achieve the desired I–V characteristics with ultrahigh PVCR values for memory and logic applications.

Cold Source Diodes With Sub-Unity Ideality Factor and Giant Negative Differential Resistance

Conventional Schottky diodes have a switching limit of ideality factor larger than unity due to the thermionic emission. In this work, cold source diodes (CSDs) using cold metals of monolayer 2H phase MX2(M = Nb, Ta; X = S, Se) as the injection source are proposed and investigated by first-principles quantum transport simulations. Different from the conventional Schottky diode, CSDs can break the ideality factor limit of unity and reach steep switching. Cold metals such as 2H MX2are metallic but have energy gaps around the Fermi level. Therefore, high-energy electrons can be effectively filtered and the leakage current is suppressed at off-state. It is shown that the ideality factor of CSDs can be smaller than 1 over eight decades with a minimum of 0.17. At the same time, giant negative differential resistance is realized in CSDs and the peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) can be over 106with a peak current over 100 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{A}/\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> .

Role of Nanoparticles in Enhancing Crop Tolerance to Abiotic Stress: A Comprehensive Review.

Plants are subjected to a wide range of abiotic stresses, such as heat, cold, drought, salinity, flooding, and heavy metals. Generally, abiotic stresses have adverse impacts on plant growth and development which affects agricultural productivity, causing food security problems, and resulting in economic losses. To reduce the negative effects of environmental stress on crop plants, novel technologies, such as nanotechnology, have emerged. Implementing nanotechnology in modern agriculture can also help improve the efficiency of water usage, prevent plant diseases, ensure food security, reduce environmental pollution, and enhance sustainability. In this regard, nanoparticles (NPs) can help combat nutrient deficiencies, promote stress tolerance, and improve the yield and quality of crops. This can be achieved by stimulating the activity of certain enzymes, increasing the contents (e.g., chlorophyll) and efficiency of photosynthesis, and controlling plant pathogens. The use of nanoscale agrochemicals, including nanopesticides, nanoherbicides, and nanofertilizers, has recently acquired increasing interest as potential plant-enhancing technologies. This review acknowledges the positive impacts of NPs in sustainable agriculture, and highlights their adverse effects on the environment, health, and food chain. Here, the role and scope of NPs as a practical tool to enhance yield and mitigate the detrimental effects of abiotic stresses in crops are described. The future perspective of nanoparticles in agriculture has also been discussed.

Using Exogenous Melatonin, Glutathione, Proline, and Glycine Betaine Treatments to Combat Abiotic Stresses in Crops.

Abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, heat, cold, and heavy metals, are associated with global climate change and hamper plant growth and development, affecting crop yields and quality. However, the negative effects of abiotic stresses can be mitigated through exogenous treatments using small biomolecules. For example, the foliar application of melatonin provides the following: it protects the photosynthetic apparatus; it increases the antioxidant defenses, osmoprotectant, and soluble sugar levels; it prevents tissue damage and reduces electrolyte leakage; it improves reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging; and it increases biomass, maintains the redox and ion homeostasis, and improves gaseous exchange. Glutathione spray upregulates the glyoxalase system, reduces methylglyoxal (MG) toxicity and oxidative stress, decreases hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde accumulation, improves the defense mechanisms, tissue repairs, and nitrogen fixation, and upregulates the phytochelatins. The exogenous application of proline enhances growth and other physiological characteristics, upregulates osmoprotection, protects the integrity of the plasma lemma, reduces lipid peroxidation, increases photosynthetic pigments, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and amino acids, and enhances stress tolerance, carbon fixation, and leaf nitrogen content. The foliar application of glycine betaine improves growth, upregulates osmoprotection and osmoregulation, increases relative water content, net photosynthetic rate, and catalase activity, decreases photorespiration, ion leakage, and lipid peroxidation, protects the oxygen-evolving complex, and prevents chlorosis. Chemical priming has various important advantages over transgenic technology as it is typically more affordable for farmers and safe for plants, people, and animals, while being considered environmentally acceptable. Chemical priming helps to improve the quality and quantity of the yield. This review summarizes and discusses how exogenous melatonin, glutathione, proline, and glycine betaine can help crops combat abiotic stresses.

Role of phytomelatonin responsive to metal stresses: An omics perspective and future scenario.

A pervasive melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) reveals a crucial role in stress tolerance and plant development. Melatonin (MT) is a unique molecule with multiple phenotypic expressions and numerous actions within the plants. It has been extensively studied in crop plants under different abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, cold, and heavy metals. Mainly, MT role is appraised as an antioxidant molecule that deals with oxidative stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) and modulating stress related genes. It improves the contents of different antioxidant enzyme activities and thus, regulates the redox hemostasis in crop plants. In this comprehensive review, regulatory effects of melatonin in plants as melatonin biosynthesis, signaling pathway, modulation of stress related genes and physiological role of melatonin under different heavy metal stress have been reviewed in detail. Further, this review has discussed how MT regulates different genes/enzymes to mediate defense responses and overviewed the context of transcriptomics and phenomics followed by the metabolomics pathways in crop plants.

Teamwork to Survive in Hostile Soils: Use of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria to Ameliorate Soil Salinity Stress in Crops.

Plants and their microbiomes, including plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), can work as a team to reduce the adverse effects of different types of stress, including drought, heat, cold, and heavy metals stresses, as well as salinity in soils. These abiotic stresses are reviewed here, with an emphasis on salinity and its negative consequences on crops, due to their wide presence in cultivable soils around the world. Likewise, the factors that stimulate the salinity of soils and their impact on microbial diversity and plant physiology were also analyzed. In addition, the saline soils that exist in Mexico were analyzed as a case study. We also made some proposals for a more extensive use of bacterial bioinoculants in agriculture, particularly in developing countries. Finally, PGPB are highly relevant and extremely helpful in counteracting the toxic effects of soil salinity and improving crop growth and production; therefore, their use should be intensively promoted.

Evaluation of Proline, Chlorophyll, and Carotenoid Contents of Two Globe Artichokes [Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus (L.) Fiori] Leaves Based on the Growing Season

Globe artichoke [Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus (L.) Fiori], a member of the Asteraceae family, has been known since ancient times. Edible parts of this valuable vegetable are rich in antioxidants and polyphenols as well as possessing healing properties against certain diseases. When the life cycle of plants is taken into consideration, the processes which are highly affected by environmental conditions are photosynthesis and cell growth. Chlorophyll level is known as a good indicator of the photosynthesis of plants. Carotenoids, one of the important functions of which protects chlorophyll from photo-oxidation, can prevent the destruction of chlorophyll. Therefore, chlorophyll and carotenoids play an important role in photosynthesis and the protection of photosynthetic pathways against harmful free radicals. The proline concentration present in various plants is increased in many different stress conditions, such as cold, temperature, salinity, drought, UV, and heavy metals, thus, providing better tolerance to stress conditions. The aim of the present study was to comparatively evaluate the proline, chlorophyll (a and b), and carotenoid contents of the young and mature leaves of two OP cultivars (Bayrampaşa and Sakız) based on different growing seasons. Obtained results demonstrated that there were differences between two OP artichoke cultivars based on the growing season and young and mature leaves with regards to proline, chlorophyll (a and b), and carotenoid contents. Findings revealed that proline and chlorophyll b levels in autumn were quite promising, while in terms of chlorophyll a and carotenoid levels winter was prominent. Regarding the young and mature leaves, high proline and chlorophyll a levels were found to be dominant in young leaves. On the other hand, chlorophyll b and carotenoid were more accumulated in mature leaves. Turkey has several other globe artichoke cultivars and the findings of the present study may play a supportive role in determining proline, chlorophyll (a and b), and carotenoid contents for combating several environmental stress factors.

An Insight into the Abiotic Stress Responses of Cultivated Beets (Beta vulgaris L.).

Cultivated beets (sugar beets, fodder beets, leaf beets, and garden beets) belonging to the species Beta vulgaris L. are important sources for many products such as sugar, bioethanol, animal feed, human nutrition, pulp residue, pectin extract, and molasses. Beta maritima L. (sea beet or wild beet) is a halophytic wild ancestor of all cultivated beets. With a requirement of less water and having shorter growth period than sugarcane, cultivated beets are preferentially spreading from temperate regions to subtropical countries. The beet cultivars display tolerance to several abiotic stresses such as salt, drought, cold, heat, and heavy metals. However, many environmental factors adversely influence growth, yield, and quality of beets. Hence, selection of stress-tolerant beet varieties and knowledge on the response mechanisms of beet cultivars to different abiotic stress factors are most required. The present review discusses morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of cultivated beets (B. vulgaris L.) to different abiotic stresses including alkaline, cold, heat, heavy metals, and UV radiation. Additionally, we describe the beet genes reported for their involvement in response to these stress conditions.

TypiCal but DeliCate Ca++re: Dissecting the Essence of Calcium Signaling Network as a Robust Response Coordinator of Versatile Abiotic and Biotic Stimuli in Plants.

Plant growth, development, and ultimately crop productivity are largely impacted by the interaction of plants with different abiotic and biotic factors throughout their life cycle. Perception of different abiotic stresses, such as salt, cold, drought, heat, and heavy metals, and interaction with beneficial and harmful biotic agents by plants lead to transient, sustained, or oscillatory changes of [calcium ion, Ca2+]cyt within the cell. Significant progress has been made in the decoding of Ca2+ signatures into downstream responses to modulate differential developmental and physiological responses in the whole plant. Ca2+ sensor proteins, mainly calmodulins (CaMs), calmodulin-like proteins (CMLs), and others, such as Ca2+-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs), and calmodulin-binding transcription activators (CAMTAs) have played critical roles in coupling the specific stress stimulus with an appropriate response. This review summarizes the current understanding of the Ca2+ influx and efflux system in plant cells and various Ca2+ binding protein-mediated signal transduction pathways that are delicately orchestrated to mitigate abiotic and biotic stresses. The probable interactions of different components of Ca2+ sensor relays and Ca2+ sensor responders in response to various external stimuli have been described diagrammatically focusing on established pathways and latest developments. Present comprehensive insight into key components of the Ca2+ signaling toolkit in plants can provide an innovative framework for biotechnological manipulations toward crop improvability in near future.

Abiotic Stresses: Alteration of Composition and Grain Quality in Food Legumes

Abiotic stresses varyingly affect the grain composition and quality of food legumes. This paper is aimed at discussing the impact of abiotic stresses on the grain composition and quality of food legumes. As protein is the main grain constituent of food legumes for which it is being consumed by humans as a cheap protein source, abiotic stresses such as heat, cold, drought, salinity and heavy metals alter this grain protein content in different dimensions for different food legumes. Moreover, other valuable constituents such as starch, soluble sugar, oil, fatty acid and fiber content are affected differently by the abiotic stresses. The diverse impact of these abiotic stresses ultimately declines the grain quality and yield of food legumes. As food legumes play a vital role in the nutritional diet of millions of people in the world and are occasionally denoted as the meat of poor people, it is important to recognize that the sustainable production of food legumes, even under various environmental stresses, has the potential to ensure protein security for people globally. Therefore, it has become a necessity to improve the productivity and quality of food legumes under abiotic stresses through proper crop management and improved breeding strategies, thus enhancing food and economic security to the farmers, particularly in the developing countries of the world.

A Clinical Study on Efficacy of Ajeya Ghrita in Dushivisha Janya Lakshana

In modern era or day to day life cumulative toxicity (Dushivisha) increases the need for antioxidants as the body attempts to neutralize the harmful substances. The factors such as Viruddhahara and Ahitahara, fast foods and cold beverages, alcohol, tobacco, pesticides, metals and pollutants etc. can be considered under Dushivisha (cumulative poison). Aggravate Dosha vitiate the Dhatu (elements of body) specially Rakta Dhatu, it deposits in body tissues due to mild potency in nature, it covered by Kapha dosha and produces many diseases in favorable condition. Acharya Sushruta in Kalp sthana mentioned Ajeya Ghrita as a best remedy for the management of Dushivisha derived diseases. The content of Ajeya ghrita have Laghu, Rukhsha, Tiksna, Katu, Ushna, Kushthaghna, Krimighana Vishghna and antioxidant properties can help the breakdown the pathogenesis of Dushi visha. This formulation is given in 30 patients which is divided in two group having 15 patients in each group in oral dose of 12gm BD with lukewarm water for 30 days with follow up 30 days. Patient having sign and symptoms of fever, Kotha (skin allergies), Kasa (cough), Trishna (increased thirst), abdominal pain, recurrent Avipaka (indigestion)/ Arochak (anorexia), recurrent Chardi (vomiting)/ nausea, recurrent Shirahshool (headache)/ dizziness, recurrent Jwara (fever), recurrent Atisara (diarrhea), premature aging (wrinkling of skin, greying and loss of hair etc.), Smritinasha (loss of memory), recurrent Daurbalya (weakness), result found 1 patient (6.67%) were completely remitted in Group A while group B not found. 4 patients (26.66%) Group A, while in Group B, 3 (20%) were moderately improved respectively. 5 patients (33.33%) were no relief in group A and 4 (40%) in group B, no relief in any symptoms.

Morpho-Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Adaptation of Millets to Abiotic Stresses: A Review

Abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, cold, nutrient deficiency, excess salt and hazardous metals can hamper plantgrowth and development. Intensive agriculture of only a few major staple food crops that are sensitive and intolerant to environmental stresses has led to an agrarian crisis. On the other hand, nutritionally rich, gluten free and stress tolerant plants like millets are neglected and underutilized. Millets sustain about one-third of the world’s population and show exceptional tolerance to various abiotic and biotic stresses. Millets are C4 plants that are adapted to marginal and dry lands of arid and semi-arid regions, and survive low rainfall and poor soils. Abiotic stresses significantly affect plant growth which ultimately results in reduced crop yields. However, various adaptation mechanisms have evolved in millets to withstand different stresses. This review aims at exploring various of these morphophysiological, biochemical and molecular aspects of mechanisms in millets. Morphological adaptations include short life span, smallplant height and leaf area, dense root system, adjusted flowering time, increased root and decreased shoot lengths, high tillering, and leaf folding. A high accumulation of various osmoprotectants (proline, soluble sugars, proteins) improves hyperosmolarity and enhances the activity of antioxidant enzymes (e.g., Ascorbate peroxidase, Superoxide dismutase, Catalase, Peroxidase) providing defense against oxidative damage. Physiologically, plants show low photosynthetic and stomatal conductance rates, and root respiration which help them to escape from water stress. Molecular adaptations include the upregulation of stress-related transcriptional factors, signalling genes, ion transporters, secondary metabolite pathways, receptor kinases, phytohormone biosynthesis and antioxidative enzymes. Lack of genetic resources hampers improvement of millets. However, several identified and characterized genes for stress tolerance can be exploited for further development of millet resilience. This will provide them with an extra characteristic plant resistance to withstand environmental pressures, besides their excellent nutritional value over the conventional staple crops like rice, wheat and maize.