Plant Stress Responses to Abiotic and Biotic Challenges

Plants in natural and agricultural settings are continually challenged by a spectrum of environmental and biological stressors. Abiotic factors such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures and nutrient imbalance disrupt cellular homeostasis, leading to osmotic stress, oxidative damage and impaired photosynthesis. Concurrently, biotic threats from insect herbivores, microbial pathogens and parasitic nematodes trigger immune responses that limit growth and reproduction. To survive and reproduce, plants have evolved sophisticated perception systems that detect stress cues via specialised receptors and initiate downstream signalling cascades. Central to these cascades are phytohormones—abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA) and ethylene—that orchestrate the expression of defensive genes, modulate stomatal aperture and regulate resource allocation between growth and defence. Dynamic cross-talk between hormonal pathways enables plants to integrate multiple signals and fine-tune responses under combined stresses. Defence strategies include reinforcement of cell walls, accumulation of antioxidant enzymes to scavenge reactive oxygen species, synthesis of secondary metabolites such as flavonoids and terpenoids, and activation of pathogenesis-related proteins. Moreover, induced resistance can prime distal tissues for enhanced protection against subsequent attacks. Understanding the molecular basis of these responses has profound implications for crop improvement and sustainable agriculture, particularly under the pressures of climate change and land salinisation. Advances in genomics, metabolomics and phenotyping are paving the way towards breeding stress-resilient cultivars and developing precision agronomy practices that support global food security.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have shown that soil salinisation can profoundly influence plant–herbivore interactions through shifts in defensive metabolism. In controlled trials, generalist caterpillars consumed less tissue and experienced higher mortality on saline-treated tomato plants, with methyl jasmonate application modulating both local and systemic resistance. Investigations in rice revealed cultivar-specific responses to salinity, where antagonism between abscisic acid and salicylic acid signalling reshaped resistance to brown planthopper feeding. These insights underscore the role of hormonal cross-talk in mediating stress tolerance and pest resistance under saline conditions.

Plant Stress Responses to Abiotic and Biotic Challenges publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in plant stress responses to abiotic and biotic challenges across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Abiotic stress: Non-living environmental factor (e.g. drought, salinity) that adversely affects plant growth.

Biotic stress: Harmful interaction with living organisms (e.g. pathogens, herbivores) that provokes defence responses.

Phytohormone: Endogenous signalling molecule (e.g. ABA, JA, SA) that regulates plant physiology and stress responses.

Hormonal cross-talk: Interaction between different hormonal pathways that integrates signals and modulates combined stress responses.

Bottom-up effect: Influence of plant physiological changes on higher trophic levels, such as herbivore performance and population dynamics.

Metabolome: Complete set of small-molecule metabolites in a biological sample, reflecting the plant’s physiological and defence status.

Induced resistance: Enhanced defensive capacity of a plant following initial exposure to stress signals or damage, often priming future responses.

References

1. Harnessing Phytohormones: Advancing Plant Growth and Defence Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture. Physiologia Plantarum (2024).
2. How plants handle multiple stresses: hormonal interactions underlying responses to abiotic stress and insect herbivory. Plant Molecular Biology (2016).
3. Salt Stress Effects on Secondary Metabolites of Cotton in Relation to Gene Expression Responsible for Aphid Development. PLOS ONE (2015).
4. Generalist herbivore response to volatile chemical induction varies along a gradient in soil salinization. Scientific Reports (2022).
5. Interactions between brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) and salinity stressed rice (Oryza sativa) plant are cultivar-specific. Scientific Reports (2020).
6. Metabolites and Plant Hormones Related to the Resistance Response to Feeding Stimulation and Leaf Clipping Control in Chinese Pine (Pinus tabuliformis Carr.). Current Issues in Molecular Biology (2023).