Research progress on plant stress‐associated protein (SAP) family: Master regulators to deal with environmental stresses

• Published in: BioEssays Vol. 46; no. 11; pp. e2400097 - n/a
• Main Authors: Ben Saad, Rania, Ben Romdhane, Walid, Čmiková, Natália, Baazaoui, Narjes, Bouteraa, Mohamed Taieb, Ben Akacha, Bouthaina, Chouaibi, Yosra, Maisto, Maria, Ben Hsouna, Anis, Garzoli, Stefania, Wiszniewska, Alina, Kačániová, Miroslava
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.11.2024
• Subjects: abiotic and biotic stress; Biological activity; biotic stress; Cellular stress response; Crop production; development; Environmental conditions; Environmental factors; Environmental stress; family; Food plants; Food security; gene expression; genes; Genetic modification; genetically modified organisms; Genome editing; Localization; Plant stress; Proteins; redox regulation; stress response; stress tolerance; stress‐associated protein; tolerance; transgenesis; ubiquitination; zinc finger motif; Zinc finger proteins; development; redox regulation; ubiquitination; abiotic and biotic stress; stress‐associated protein; gene expression; tolerance
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.202400097
• ISSN: 0265-9247; 1521-1878

Every year, unfavorable environmental factors significantly affect crop productivity and threaten food security. Plants are sessile; they cannot move to escape unfavorable environmental conditions, and therefore, they activate a variety of defense pathways. Among them are processes regulated by stress‐associated proteins (SAPs). SAPs have a specific zinc finger domain (A20) at the N‐terminus and either AN1 or C2H2 at the C‐terminus. SAP proteins are involved in many biological processes and in response to various abiotic or biotic constraints. Most SAPs play a role in conferring transgenic stress resistance and are stress‐inducible. The emerging field of SAPs in abiotic or biotic stress response regulation has attracted the attention of researchers. Although SAPs interact with various proteins to perform their functions, the exact mechanisms of these interactions remain incompletely understood. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of SAPs, covering their diversity, structure, expression, and subcellular localization. SAPs play a pivotal role in enabling crosstalk between abiotic and biotic stress signaling pathways, making them essential for developing stress‐tolerant crops without yield penalties. Collectively, understanding the complex regulation of SAPs in stress responses can contribute to enhancing tolerance against various environmental stresses through several techniques such as transgenesis, classical breeding, or gene editing. The graphical illustrates the role played by plant stress‐associated proteins (SAPs) during environmental stress conditions. A comprehensive understanding of SAPs diversity, structure, localization, and expression highlights their involvement in stress signaling pathways and critical biological processes. Thus, SAPs can facilitate the development of crops resistant to multiple stresses without yield penalties.