The role of brassinosteroids in plant physiological and molecular responses to counter salt stress and ensure food security: a review and future perspectives

Authors

MUHAMMAD UMAIR HASSANFollow
HUANG GUOQINFollow
MUHAMMAD NAWAZFollow
ADNAN NOOR SHAHFollow
TAHIR ABBAS KHANFollow
MUHAMMAD INZAMAM UL HAQFollow
MEHMOOD ALI NOORFollow
ZHOU PINGFollow
LIU QINFollow
YASSER S. MOSTAFAFollow
SAAD A. ALAMRIFollow
MELEKBER SÜLÜŞOĞLU DURULFollow
MEHMET RAMAZAN BOZHÜYÜKFollow
MOHAMED HASHEMFollow

Abstract

Excessive salinity poses serious threats to crop productivity and global food security. Salt stress reduces crop growth and final productivity by inducing ionic, osmotic, and oxidative damage. Applying plant growth hormones is thought to be an efficient method of reducing the negative effects of salinity. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant hormones that have demonstrated appreciable effects against different abiotic stresses. BRs can mitigate the deleterious impacts of salt stress by improving water and nutrient uptake, membrane stability, antioxidant activities, and osmolyte synthesis while maintaining the hormonal balance. Furthermore, BRs can also improve the metabolic and molecular responses of plants to help them counter the toxic effects of salinity, and they interact with sugars, proteins, amino acids, and phytohormones to regulate metabolic functioning to increase adaptation against salinity. As vital hormones, BRs are also involved in the signaling pathways of genes, proteins, and enzymes that work to defend plant cells from the toxic effects of salinity. Transgenic plants with improved BR synthesis have shown improved salt tolerance, and genome-wide studies encoding BR genes suggest their roles in plant growth and salt tolerance. The present review discusses the role of BRs in mitigating salinity toxicity through different mechanisms, crosstalk, and the interactions of BRs with other osmolytes and phytohormones. This review will provide knowledge to support the development of salt-tolerant crops and ensure sustainable crop production.

Author ORCID Identifier

MUHAMMAD HASSAN: 0000-0003-4929-0435

HUANG GUOQIN: 0009-0004-3159-7644

MUHAMMAD NAWAZ: 0000-0002-1166-9178

ADNAN SHAH: 0000-0002-3722-8848

TAHIR KHAN: 0000-0001-6887-9742

MUHAMMAD HAQ: 0000-0002-2335-5344

MEHMOOD ALI NOOR: 0000-0003-2459-2357

ZHOU PING: 0000-0002-8624-8597

LIU QIN: 0000-0002-7546-8391

Yasser S. MOSTAFA: 0000-0003-2783-9546

Saad A. ALAMRI: 0000-0001-9228-188X

MELEKBER SÜLÜŞOĞLU DURUL: 0000-0002-6546-5891

Mehmet Ramazan BOZHÜYÜK: 0000-0001-5021-6019

Mohamed HASHEM: 0000-0002-3221-2281

DOI

10.55730/1300-011X.3245

Keywords

Antioxidant enzymes, gene expression, genetic engineering, hormonal crosstalk, stress signaling

First Page

1

Last Page

23

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

HASSAN, MUHAMMAD UMAIR; GUOQIN, HUANG; NAWAZ, MUHAMMAD; SHAH, ADNAN NOOR; KHAN, TAHIR ABBAS; HAQ, MUHAMMAD INZAMAM UL; NOOR, MEHMOOD ALI; PING, ZHOU; QIN, LIU; MOSTAFA, YASSER S.; ALAMRI, SAAD A.; SÜLÜŞOĞLU DURUL, MELEKBER; BOZHÜYÜK, MEHMET RAMAZAN; and HASHEM, MOHAMED (2025) "The role of brassinosteroids in plant physiological and molecular responses to counter salt stress and ensure food security: a review and future perspectives," Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry: Vol. 49: No. 1, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.55730/1300-011X.3245
Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/agriculture/vol49/iss1/2