From Roots to Resilience: Stress Physiology Below Ground

Root systems represent a primary interface between plants and their environment, playing crucial roles in water and nutrient uptake, anchorage, maintaining symbiotic plant-microbe interactions, and root microbiome establishment. In environments experiencing stressors such as drought, salinity, nutritional deficits, and pathogen attacks, roots display remarkable plasticity and adaptive capacities essential for plant survival and productivity. Despite these critical functions, gaps remain in our understanding of how roots sense environmental stressors and the signaling networks involved. Current research provides insights into the molecular and physiological mechanisms across various species and conditions, yet much remains to be uncovered about their application.This Research Topic aims to compile groundbreaking studies that explore root systems under stress with respect to their physiology, molecular biology, structural dynamics, and interactions with the beneficial soil microorganisms. Our objective is to discern how roots perceive and respond to stress, map out underlying signaling pathways, elucidate the changes in their relationships with symbionts, and identify resilience-conferring traits. This knowledge will ultimately inform strategies for enhancing crop resilience to climate challenges, drawing on both model systems and crop species.To gather further insights into stress physiology below ground, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Modulation of root system architecture in response to abiotic stress• Ion and water transport mechanisms under saline and drought conditions• Root metabolic adaptations to nutrient scarcity or toxic environments• Hormonal crosstalk and signaling in root stress responses• Root–microbiome interactions under stress conditions• Comparative studies of resilient root traits in wild and cultivated species• Technological advancements in phenotyping root traits under stress• Dynamics of symbiotic microbes enhancing plant tolerance to stressWe invite original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that explore both foundational and applied dimensions of root stress biology. Contributions that integrate interdisciplinary approaches combining physiology, genetics, omics technologies, imaging, and ecological perspectives are particularly encouraged. Topic editors: Turgut Yigit Akyol, Rengin Ozgur Uzilday, Seyed Morteza Zahedi Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/73846/from-roots-to-resilience-stress-physiology-below-ground