Engineering climate-resilient crops: Integrating morphological, metabolic, and signalling networks under waterlogging stress

Abstract

Waterlogging and submergence act as major abiotic stressors that are challenging global food security. This is especially true given the fact that climate change is making heavy rainfall events more common. This article highlights some of the plant mechanisms for coping with low oxygen that have been discovered recently. The first step to achieving this is having a path of low resistance to air in the form of aerenchyma tissue, adventitious roots, and hypertrophied lenticels. At the molecular level, the N-dégorn pathway is the plant oxygen thermostat, regulating the switching of metabolism from aerobic respiration to the vital but less efficient fermentation. We will also look at the effect of the interaction of ROS, Nitric Oxide, and phytohormones on the regulation of the complicated crosstalk leading to escape or quiescence responses in plants. After including the immunity trade- off caused by biotic, abiotic crosstalk in this review, precision breeding and chemical priming are the main methods for the creation of climate, resilient crops.