Echoes of a Stressful Past: Abiotic Stress Memory in Crop Plants towards Enhanced Adaptation

Georgios Lagiotis (), Panagiotis Madesis and Evangelia Stavridou ()
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Georgios Lagiotis: Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plants, School of Agricultural Sciences, University of Thessaly, 38446 Thessaly, Greece
Panagiotis Madesis: Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plants, School of Agricultural Sciences, University of Thessaly, 38446 Thessaly, Greece
Evangelia Stavridou: Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research and Technology—Hellas, 6th km Charilaou-Thermi Rd., Thermi, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-30

Abstract: Plants can develop stress memory as a response to various abiotic stresses, but the underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Most of the knowledge concerning the mechanisms of stress memory development and inheritance in plants is primarily based on research in the model plant Arabidopsis. While shared mechanisms exist across plant species, it is crucial to expand our understanding of epigenetic regulation in crops. Stress priming, or prior exposure to mild stress, can enhance a plant’s adaptation to future stress events and the development of stress memory. During stress priming, plants undergo physiological, biochemical, molecular, and epigenetic changes that can be transient or maintained throughout their lifespan, and in some cases, these changes can also be inherited by the offspring. In this review, we present the current state of knowledge on the development of priming-induced stress memory in agronomically important crops towards stress resilience. The most prominent abiotic stresses, namely, heat, cold, salt, drought, and waterlogging, are highlighted in relation to stress cis-/trans-priming and memory development at the intra-, inter-, and transgenerational levels. The cost for developing stress memory in plants along with the duration of these memory imprints and stress memory fading are also discussed. This review is particularly important in the era of climate change, which necessitates the development of agricultural sustainability strategies.

Keywords: somatic memory; transgenerational memory; priming; abiotic stresses; epigenetic regulation; crop plants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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