The plant cytoskeleton takes center stage in abiotic stress responses and resilience

Abstract

Stress resilience behaviours in plants are defensive mechanisms that develop under adverse environmental conditions to promote growth, development and yield. Over the past decades, improving stress resilience, especially in crop species, has been a focus of intense research for global food security and economic growth. Plants have evolved specific mechanisms to sense external stress and transmit information to the cell interior and generate appropriate responses. Plant cytoskeleton, comprising microtubules and actin filaments, takes a center stage in stress-induced signalling pathways, either as a direct target or as a signal transducer. In the past few years, it has become apparent that the function of the plant cytoskeleton and other associated proteins are not merely limited to elementary processes of cell growth and proliferation, but they also function in stress response and resilience. This review summarizes recent advances on the role of plant cytoskeleton and associated proteins in abiotic stress management. We provide a thorough overview of the mechanisms that plant cells employ to withstand different abiotic stimuli such as hypersalinity, dehydration, high temperature and cold, among others. We also discuss the crucial role of the plant cytoskeleton in organellar positioning under the influence of high light intensity.