Nano-enabled Plant Stress Regulation and Resilience: Mechanisms and Field Applications of Nanomaterials

Global crop productivity is increasingly constrained by a combination of abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, heavy metals, and temperature extremes, as well as biotic stresses caused by pathogens and pests. These challenges are further intensified by climate change and the growing demand for sustainable agricultural production. Conventional agrochemical approaches, although effective in some contexts, often raise concerns regarding environmental safety, resistance development, and long-term sustainability. Therefore, innovative strategies that enhance plant resilience while minimizing ecological risks are urgently needed.Nanomaterials have emerged as promising tools for nano-enabled agriculture because of their unique physicochemical properties and their ability to interact with plant systems at multiple biological levels. These materials, including metal and metal-oxide nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials, polymeric nanostructures, and nanocomposites, can influence plant growth and stress responses by modulating redox homeostasis, phytohormone signaling, calcium fluxes, nutrient dynamics, and gene expression networks. Increasing evidence indicates that nanomaterials can regulate key physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes associated with plant adaptation to both abiotic and biotic stresses.Despite growing interest in this area, a mechanistic understanding of how nanomaterials regulate plant stress responses remains incomplete. In particular, the links between nanomaterial properties, nano-plant interactions, stress signaling pathways, and field-level performance are still insufficiently resolved. Addressing these gaps is essential for translating laboratory discoveries into safe, effective, and scalable agricultural applications.The goal of this Research Topic is to advance both the mechanistic understanding and practical application of nanomaterials in plant stress regulation and resilience. This collection aims to bring together interdisciplinary studies that investigate how nanomaterials interact with plant systems to regulate physiological, biochemical, and molecular pathways involved in stress adaptation.Specifically, this Research Topic aims to:• Elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying nano-mediated plant stress regulation• Investigate how nanomaterials modulate redox signaling, phytohormone pathways, Ca²⁺ signaling, nutrient homeostasis, and transcriptional networks under stress conditions• Explore nano-plant-microbe and nano-plant-pathogen interactions relevant to plant resilience• Examine uptake, transport, accumulation, and spatiotemporal localization of nanomaterials in plant systems• Evaluate greenhouse and field-scale applications of nanomaterials for improving crop resilience under diverse stress conditionsBy integrating plant physiology, nanotechnology, and agricultural sciences, this Research Topic seeks to bridge fundamental mechanistic insights with translational and field-relevant applications.This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and perspectives focusing on nano-enabled approaches for plant stress regulation and resilience using nanomaterials and nanocomposites.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• Synthesis, design, and functional properties of nanomaterials for agricultural applications• Mechanisms of nano-mediated plant stress regulation and resilience• Modulation of ROS/redox balance, phytohormone signaling, Ca²⁺ signaling, and transcriptional regulation by nanomaterials• Nano-plant-pathogen and nano-plant-microbe interactions relevant to stress adaptation• Uptake, transport, localization, and transformation of nanomaterials in plant tissues• Multi-omics, imaging, and molecular approaches to study nano–plant interactions• Environmental safety, dose-response relationships, toxicity thresholds, and life-cycle assessment• Greenhouse and field validation of nano-enabled strategies for crop stress resilienceSubmissions providing rigorous nanomaterial characterization together with clear mechanistic insights into plant stress regulation and resilience will be prioritized. Topic editors: Nazir Ahmad, Raheel Munir, WALI MUHAMMAD, Abdul Salam Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78997/nano-enabled-plant-stress-regulation-and-resilience-mechanisms-and-field-applications-of-nanomaterials