Heat Stress Tolerance in Horticultural Crops

Heat stress poses a significant threat to the productivity and quality of horticultural crops by disrupting physiological processes, impairing reproductive development and altering cellular homeostasis. At the whole‐plant level, elevated temperatures can reduce photosynthetic efficiency, accelerate senescence and disrupt water relations, while at the reproductive stage, pollen development and fertilisation are particularly vulnerable. Advances in genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics have elucidated key molecular networks—such as heat shock proteins, antioxidant pathways and membrane‐stabilising lipids—that underpin thermotolerance. Breeding and biotechnological approaches now target quantitative trait loci associated with yield stability under heat, alongside precision editing of stress‐responsive genes. Agronomic practices, including controlled environment cultivation, foliar application of protective compounds and rootstock selection, complement genetic strategies to sustain yield under warmer climates. The integration of core physiological insights with high‐throughput phenotyping and machine learning is accelerating the development of resilient cultivars, thereby safeguarding global food and nutritional security in an era of climate change.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have elucidated epigenetic control as a driver of heat tolerance in flower‐producing crops. One analysis revealed that targeted histone modifications in floral meristems enhance expression of protective chaperones, preserving pollen viability at supra‐optimal temperatures. In another study, precision genome editing of a small heat shock protein family in a solanaceous crop improved fruit set and quality under chronic heat stress by stabilising protein folding in developing anthers. A third investigation employed single‐cell transcriptomics in a berry species to map cell‐type‐specific heat‐responsive networks, uncovering novel transcription factors that orchestrate reactive oxygen species scavenging during early fruit development.

Heat Stress Tolerance in Horticultural Crops publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in heat stress tolerance in horticultural crops across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Reactive oxygen species (ROS): Highly reactive molecules derived from oxygen that can damage cellular components unless scavenged by antioxidants.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs): A family of molecular chaperones that stabilise unfolded proteins and prevent aggregation during thermal stress.

Quantitative trait loci (QTL): Genomic regions that contribute to variation in a complex trait, such as heat tolerance, and can be mapped through genetic studies.

Thermotolerance: The ability of an organism or tissue to withstand elevated temperatures without loss of function.

References

1. Flavonols improve tomato pollen thermotolerance during germination and tube elongation by maintaining reactive oxygen species homeostasis. The Plant Cell (2024).
2. Patterns and Drivers of Pollen Temperature Tolerance. Plant Cell & Environment (2024).
3. Plant tolerance to high temperature in a changing environment: scientific fundamentals and production of heat stress-tolerant crops. Frontiers in Plant Science (2013).
4. Untargeted metabolomic analysis of tomato pollen development and heat stress response. Plant Reproduction (2017).