Hydrogen Peroxide-Mediated Stress Responses in Plant Systems

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) functions as both a signalling molecule and a potentially damaging oxidant in plants. At controlled concentrations, it orchestrates stress perception and defence activation by modulating antioxidant enzyme activities, gene expression and cellular redox balance. Biosynthesised in chloroplasts, mitochondria and peroxisomes, H2O2 diffuses across membranes to trigger cascades involving calcium (Ca2+) signatures, mitogen-activated protein kinases and stress-responsive transcription factors. These pathways regulate stomatal aperture, osmotic adjustment, cell wall reinforcement and photosynthetic acclimation. Excessive accumulation of H2O2, however, overwhelms scavenging systems, leading to oxidative damage of lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Understanding the fine balance between H2O2 production and detoxification underpins strategies to enhance crop resilience. Practical applications encompass foliar sprays, seed priming and molecular breeding to harness H2O2-mediated redox priming for tolerance to drought, salinity and heavy-metal stress in a changing climate.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated that foliar application of H2O2 at low millimolar concentrations can induce photosynthetic resilience in tomato under water deficit. In a factorial trial on Micro-Tom plants, two applications of 1 mM H2O2 reduced drought-induced inhibition of RuBisCO carboxylation by only 18 %, compared with an 86 % decline in untreated controls, while elevating leaf sucrose reserves and relative water content. Under well-watered conditions, H2O2 treatment increased maximum carboxylation capacity by 69 % and boosted biomass by 37 %. These findings highlight H2O2 as a versatile modulator of carbon assimilation and water-use efficiency, with practical relevance for improving drought tolerance and productivity in horticultural systems.

Hydrogen Peroxide-Mediated Stress Responses in Plant Systems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in hydrogen peroxide-mediated stress responses in plant systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Reactive oxygen species (ROS): Partially reduced oxygen derivatives, such as superoxide, singlet oxygen and H2O2, that act as signalling molecules or inflict oxidative damage.

Redox priming: A preparatory treatment with an oxidative agent, typically H2O2, that activates antioxidant defences and stress-responsive pathways before exposure to adverse conditions.

Ca2+ signature: Specific patterns of cytosolic calcium concentration changes over time and space that encode information in cellular signal transduction.

RuBisCO carboxylation rate: The maximum velocity at which ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase catalyses the fixation of CO2 during photosynthesis.

Transcriptomic profiling: The comprehensive analysis of gene-expression levels across the genome under defined experimental conditions.

References

1. Hydrogen peroxide signal photosynthetic acclimation of Solanum lycopersicum L. cv Micro-Tom under water deficit. Scientific Reports (2023).
2. Redox priming could be an appropriate technique to minimize drought-induced adversities in quinoa. Frontiers in Plant Science (2024).
3. Ca2+-dependent H2O2 response in roots and leaves of barley - a transcriptomic investigation. BMC Plant Biology (2025).