Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (S1): 40-53. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20196587

Special Issue: Wheat Drought and water saving Biotechnology

• Crop Genetics & Breeding·Germplasm Resources·Biotechnology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research Progress on Wheat Abiotic Stress Response Mechanisms and Prospects for Stress-Resistant Breeding

JI Xiajie, LEI Yakun, LIU Ning, SUN Limin, HU Jinghui   

  1. Institute of Agricultural Information and Economics,Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences,Shijiazhuang 050051,China
  • Received:2025-11-10 Published:2025-12-29

Abstract:

Wheat,as one of the world's major food crops,its growth and development,yield,and quality are often constrained by abiotic stresses. To cope with these abiotic stresses,wheat has evolved a series of response mechanisms,including signal perception,signal transduction,and gene expression regulation,to maintain cellular homeostasis and protect the functions of biological macromolecules. Drought stress causes the accumulation of osmotic-adjustment substances and antioxidants in wheat,a decline in the photosynthetic rate,and alterations in morphological structure. Its molecular mechanisms mainly involve pathways such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling,hormone signaling,and gene expression regulation. Saline-alkali stress inhibits seed germination and seedling growth,leading to photosynthetic impairments,osmotic-regulation imbalances,ion-balance disorders,and membrane-lipid oxidation. Under such circumstances,wheat can enhance salt tolerance by activating the salt overly sensitive (SOS) signaling pathway,calcium-ion signaling,hormone signaling,and gene-expression regulation. Extreme temperature stress inhibits photosynthesis,triggers membrane-lipid oxidation,and promotes the accumulation of osmotic-adjustment substances. Its regulatory mechanisms mainly involve hormone signaling,transcriptional activation,and epigenetic regulation. This study reviews the response mechanisms of wheat to drought,saline-alkali,and extreme temperature stresses and looks ahead to future research directions:focusing on the cross-interaction mechanisms of multiple stresses and mining genes responsive to combined stresses; effectively integrating stress-resistant traits into high-yield and high-quality genetic backgrounds to achieve the coordinated improvement of ideal plant types and stress resistance; promoting the in-depth integration of modern biotechnology with conventional breeding methods to enhance breeding efficiency. It aims to provide comprehensive theoretical support and technical references for the genetic improvement of wheat's resistance to abiotic stresses.

Key words: Wheat, Abiotic stress, Drought, Saline-alkali, High temperature, Low temperature, Molecular mechanism

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Cite this article

JI Xiajie, LEI Yakun, LIU Ning, SUN Limin, HU Jinghui. Research Progress on Wheat Abiotic Stress Response Mechanisms and Prospects for Stress-Resistant Breeding[J]. Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica, 2025, 40(S1): 40-53. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20196587.

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