Eustress and Elicitation in Aromatic and Medicinal Plants of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions

Abiotic stress is an increasingly critical factor affecting plant growth and productivity, particularly under ongoing climate change. Environmental constraints such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and oxidative stress are intensifying in frequency and severity, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Aromatic and medicinal plants are particularly relevant in this context, as they have evolved adaptive mechanisms that enable them to survive under harsh environmental conditions. These responses involve complex physiological and biochemical adjustments, including extensive remodeling of secondary metabolism. As a result, abiotic stress shapes both plant development and the qualitative and quantitative profile of specialized metabolites, driving the chemodiversity that defines these species. While these compounds underpin downstream applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, nutraceutical, and bio-pesticide industries, the central scientific question addressed here concerns how environmental signals regulate the biosynthetic pathways that generate them. The mechanistic links between environmental cues, molecular regulation, and the resulting metabolite profiles remain insufficiently resolved under realistic field conditions, particularly in species adapted to dryland ecosystems.This Research Topic aims to investigate the dual role of abiotic stress in aromatic and medicinal plants of arid and semi-arid regions, considering both its adverse and beneficial effects on plant performance and metabolic output. While severe or prolonged stress can negatively affect growth, yield, and survival, moderate or controlled stress — whether naturally occurring or experimentally applied — can reprogram biosynthetic pathways and enhance the accumulation of phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, and other specialized metabolites central to plant defense and chemodiversity. The objective is to advance mechanistic understanding of how different types, durations, and intensities of stress regulate metabolic pathways and shape the composition of medicinal plant chemotypes. The Research Topic also aims to highlight innovative and sustainable strategies — from field-based adaptation mechanisms to targeted elicitation — to manage or exploit abiotic stress in support of climate-resilient cultivation systems.In line with the section’s focus, contributions must provide mechanistic insight into stress-driven metabolic regulation; purely descriptive omics or metabolite profiling falls outside the scope of this collection, as do studies focused on medical treatments, cancer, liver disease, inflammation, or antimicrobial activity.To gather further insights into the stress-driven regulation of specialized metabolism in dryland-adapted species, we welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Molecular and physiological mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance in aromatic and medicinal plants• Stress-driven chemodiversity and biochemical adaptation of wild aromatic and medicinal plants from arid and semi-arid ecosystems• Omics-based approaches (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) integrated with functional validation to dissect stress-response networks• Influence of environmental gradients on metabolite composition, yield, and the underlying biosynthetic mechanisms• Controlled elicitation and adaptive management strategies — including optimization of stress intensity, duration, and timing — for modulating biosynthetic pathway flux and specialized metabolite production• Sustainable cultivation practices and resilience-building for aromatic and medicinal plants under climate changeWe invite Original Research Articles, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, and Methods papers that provide novel mechanistic insights into how environmental stress drives metabolic regulation, biosynthetic pathway activity, and chemodiversity in aromatic and medicinal plants. Topic editors: Hanen NAJJAA, Rym Chaouch, NAZIM SEKEROGLU Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81444/eustress-and-elicitation-in-aromatic-and-medicinal-plants-of-arid-and-semi-arid-regions