title: Role of redox homeostasis in thermo-tolerance under a climate change scenario.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Climate change predictions indicate a progressive increase in average temperatures and an increase in the frequency of heatwaves, which will have a negative impact on crop productivity. Over the last decade, a number of studies have addressed the question of how model plants or specific crops modify their metabolism when exposed to heat stress.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review provides an overview of the redox pathways that contribute to how plants cope with heat stress. The focus is on the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS), redox metabolites and enzymes in the signalling pathways leading to the activation of defence responses. Additional attention is paid to the regulating mechanisms that lead to an increase in specific ROS-scavenging systems during heat stress, which have been studied in different model systems. Finally, increasing thermo-tolerance in model and crop plants by exposing them to heat acclimation or to exogenous treatments is discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there is clear evidence that several strategies are specifically activated according to the intensity and the duration of heat stress, as well as the capacity of the different species or genotypes to overcome stress, an alteration in redox homeostasis seems to be a common event. Different mechanisms that act to enhance redox systems enable crops to overcome heat stress more effectively. Knowledge of thermo-tolerance within agronomic biodiversity is thus of key importance to enable researchers to identify new strategies for overcoming the impacts of climate change, and for decision-makers in planning for an uncertain future with new choices and options open to them.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Bari 'Aldo Moro', via E. Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy and.
authors.forename: Maria Concetta
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Pinto
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Plant Biochemistry and Food Sciences, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, I-00128 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Vittoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Locato
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Bari 'Aldo Moro', via E. Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy and.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paradiso
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Plant Biochemistry and Food Sciences, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, I-00128 Roma, Italy l.degara@unicampus.it.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Gara
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000378:metabolism; D006706:Homeostasis; D006358:Hot Temperature; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D013312:Stress, Physiological
keywords: Antioxidants; ROS; biodiversity; climate change; heat stress; reactive oxygen species; redox homeostasis; thermo-tolerance