Responses and adaptations of plants to abiotic stress: transcriptional regulation of secondary metabolic pathways, metabolomics, and nanobiological approaches
- 1Department of Biotechnology, Invertis University
- 2Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Haryana
- 3Department of Biochemistry, ICAR - Indian Institute of Pulses Research
Abstract
Plants are continuously exposed to diverse abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and heavy metal toxicity, each of which disrupts cellular homeostasis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and impairs development. To survive under these adverse conditions, plants activate a complex network of transcriptional regulators that remodel primary and secondary metabolic pathways. These regulatory cascades, involving transcription factors such as AP2, WUSCHEL, MYB, bHLH, WRKY, and NAC, orchestrate the biosynthesis of key secondary metabolites, including phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, and alkaloids, that function as antioxidants, osmoprotectants, and signaling molecules. Advances in metabolomics have provided deeper insights into stress-induced metabolic reconfigurations, enabling high-resolution profiling of pathway metabolic fluxes and revealing novel metabolites associated with adaptive resilience and tolerance. Alongside engineering abiotic stress resistance, nanobiological approaches have emerged as innovative strategies to modulate and remediate transcriptional responses and secondary metabolite production. This review comprehends current understanding of transcriptional regulation of secondary metabolism under abiotic stress, integrates metabolomics-driven discoveries, and highlights the potential of metabolites and metabolomics-based tools to augment plant adaptive mechanisms. Together, these interconnected perspectives offer a comprehensive framework for developing stress-resilient crops in the era of climate change.
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BibTeX
@article{srivastava2026responses,
title = {{Responses and adaptations of plants to abiotic stress: transcriptional regulation of secondary metabolic pathways, metabolomics, and nanobiological approaches}},
author = {Yashdeep Srivastava and Neha Saini and Nishu and Sapna Yadav and Sandhya Tripathi and Akshay Kumar and Neelam Yadav and Monika Saini and Neelam S. Sangwan},
journal = {Frontiers in Genetics},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.3389/fgene.2026.1762633},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2026.1762633},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Responses and adaptations of plants to abiotic stress: transcriptional regulation of secondary metabolic pathways, metabolomics, and nanobiological approaches
AU - Yashdeep Srivastava
AU - Neha Saini
AU - Nishu
AU - Sapna Yadav
AU - Sandhya Tripathi
AU - Akshay Kumar
AU - Neelam Yadav
AU - Monika Saini
AU - Neelam S. Sangwan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/18
JO - Frontiers in Genetics
DO - 10.3389/fgene.2026.1762633
UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2026.1762633
AB - Plants are continuously exposed to diverse abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and heavy metal toxicity, each of which disrupts cellular homeostasis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and impairs development. To survive under these adverse conditions, plants activate a complex network of transcriptional regulators that remodel primary and secondary metabolic pathways. These regulatory cascades, involving transcription factors such as AP2, WUSCHEL, MYB, bHLH, WRKY, and NAC, orchestrate the biosynthesis of key secondary metabolites, including phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, and alkaloids, that function as antioxidants, osmoprotectants, and signaling molecules. Advances in metabolomics have provided deeper insights into stress-induced metabolic reconfigurations, enabling high-resolution profiling of pathway metabolic fluxes and revealing novel metabolites associated with adaptive resilience and tolerance. Alongside engineering abiotic stress resistance, nanobiological approaches have emerged as innovative strategies to modulate and remediate transcriptional responses and secondary metabolite production. This review comprehends current understanding of transcriptional regulation of secondary metabolism under abiotic stress, integrates metabolomics-driven discoveries, and highlights the potential of metabolites and metabolomics-based tools to augment plant adaptive mechanisms. Together, these interconnected perspectives offer a comprehensive framework for developing stress-resilient crops in the era of climate change.
SN - 1664-8021
ER -