Mechanisms of plant adaptation and tolerance to heat stress

Abstract

During the entire life cycle, plants always encounter various stresses due to their nonmobile trait. Among these stresses, heat stress is a major stressor limiting cellular anabolism and catabolism, seed germination, seedling growth, development, geographical distribution, production, and even survival. Looking for the useful methods to boost thermotolerance and expounding the mechanism of plant adaptation and tolerance to heat stress is of vital importance for agricultural production. Heat stress commonly leads to different injuries at molecular, metabolic, physiological, biochemical, and even whole plant levels depending on the intensity of and endurance to high temperature. The adaptation and tolerance of plants to heat stress also is a sophisticated chemical and biological event, implicating heat stress perception, signaling transduction, gene expression, and physio-biochemical changes. This chapter discusses the heat injury, heat stress perception, signaling transduction, and mechanisms of adaptation and tolerance of plants to high temperature, which lays the foundation of further understanding the mechanisms of heat injury and heat tolerance and acquiring genetically modified plants with heat tolerance and even multiple stress tolerance.