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Understanding brassinosteroid-regulated mechanisms to improve stress tolerance in plants: a critical review

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Abstract

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroidal plant hormones involved in regulation of physiological and molecular processes to ameliorate various biotic and abiotic stresses. Exogenous application of BRs to improve stress tolerance in plants has recently become a high research priority. Several studies have revealed the involvement of these steroidal hormones in upregulation of stress-related defense genes and their cross talk with other metabolic pathways. This is likely to stimulate research on many unanswered questions regarding their role in enhancing the ability of plants to tolerate adverse environmental conditions. Thus, this review appraises new insights on mechanisms mediating BR-regulated changes in plants, focused mainly on their involvement in regulation of physiological and molecular mechanisms under stress conditions. Herein, examples of BR-stimulated modulation of antioxidant defense system and upregulation of transcription factors in plants exposed to various biotic (bacterial, viral, and fungal attack) and abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, heat, low temperature, and heavy metal stress) are discussed. Based on these insights, future research in the current direction can be helpful to increase our understanding of BR-mediated complex and interrelated processes under stress conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are highly grateful and indebted to Dr. Graham Lyons (Research Associate at School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Australia) for critically reading the manuscript. His cooperation to improve the English language quality of the manuscript is highly acknowledged and appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan

    Fahim Nawaz

  2. Department of Agronomy, UCA & ES, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

    Muhammad Naeem, Bilal Zulfiqar, Asim Akram & Irfan Anwar

  3. Crop Stress Management Group, Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Yasin Ashraf

  4. Department of Plant Pathology, UCA & ES, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

    Muhammad Raheel

  5. Department of Agronomy, Agriculture College, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

    Rana Nauman Shabbir

  6. Department of Agronomy, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

    Rai Altaf Hussain

  7. Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Muhammad Aurangzaib

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  1. Fahim Nawaz
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Nawaz, F., Naeem, M., Zulfiqar, B. et al. Understanding brassinosteroid-regulated mechanisms to improve stress tolerance in plants: a critical review. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 15959–15975 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9163-6

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