Molecular physiology of heat stress responses in plants

Abstract

Heat stress is one of the major abiotic stresses that plants encounter. Heat stress causes billions of dollars in losses of agricultural crops worldwide. Here, we summarize the molecular and whole genome responses due to heat stress in plants. It has been reported that there are cascades of biochemical reactions that lead to heat stress. In most cases, heat stress is coupled with drought stress response. With the advancements in genomic tools, we have more information on genes, which are upor down-regulated in plants due to heat stress. The heat-stressed plants may exhibit various physiological responses, including stomatal closure, suppressed photosynthesis, stunted growth, etc. Microarray and transcriptome sequencing gave us the tools to perform genome-wide expression profi ling in heat-stressed plants. Understanding how gene expression in heat-stressed plants works will help us to discover novel heat stress-tolerant genes. These genes could be overexpressed in crop plants to make transgenic heat-tolerant agricultural crops. Climate change and global warming are major concerns for us and production of thermotolerant plants could address the issue of global crop loss due to heat and drought stresses.