Regulation of Plant Responses to Salt Stress

Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Apr 28;22(9):4609. doi: 10.3390/ijms22094609.

Abstract

Salt stress is a major environmental stress that affects plant growth and development. Plants are sessile and thus have to develop suitable mechanisms to adapt to high-salt environments. Salt stress increases the intracellular osmotic pressure and can cause the accumulation of sodium to toxic levels. Thus, in response to salt stress signals, plants adapt via various mechanisms, including regulating ion homeostasis, activating the osmotic stress pathway, mediating plant hormone signaling, and regulating cytoskeleton dynamics and the cell wall composition. Unraveling the mechanisms underlying these physiological and biochemical responses to salt stress could provide valuable strategies to improve agricultural crop yields. In this review, we summarize recent developments in our understanding of the regulation of plant salt stress.

Keywords: cell wall regulation; hormone mediation; ion transport; osmotic homeostasis; salt stress.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Osmotic Pressure*
  • Plants / metabolism*
  • Salt Tolerance*
  • Signal Transduction*