Diverse Physiological Roles of Flavonoids in Plant Environmental Stress Responses and Tolerance

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 22; p. 3158
• Main Authors: Shomali, Aida, Das, Susmita, Arif, Namira, Sarraf, Mohammad, Zahra, Noreen, Yadav, Vaishali, Aliniaeifard, Sasan, Chauhan, Devendra Kumar, Hasanuzzaman, Mirza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.11.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Analysis; Antioxidants; Biological activity; Biosynthesis; Endoplasmic reticulum; Environmental stress; Enzymes; Flavonoids; Free radicals; Health aspects; Isoflavones; Low molecular weights; Metabolism; Metabolites; Molecular weight; Molecular weight distribution; Oxidation; Oxidative stress; phenolics; Phenols; photosynthesis apparatus; Physiological aspects; Physiology; Plant heat tolerance; Plant metabolites; Polyphenols; Proteins; reactive oxygen species; Review; Reviews; Roles; Secondary metabolites; Stress response; Stresses; India; photosynthesis apparatus; environmental stress; secondary metabolites; reactive oxygen species; phenolics
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants11223158

Flavonoids are characterized as the low molecular weight polyphenolic compounds universally distributed in . They are a chemically varied group of secondary metabolites with a broad range of biological activity. The increasing amount of evidence has demonstrated the various physiological functions of flavonoids in stress response. In this paper, we provide a brief introduction to flavonoids' biochemistry and biosynthesis. Then, we review the recent findings on the alternation of flavonoid content under different stress conditions to come up with an overall picture of the mechanism of involvement of flavonoids in plants' response to various abiotic stresses. The participation of flavonoids in antioxidant systems, flavonoid-mediated response to different abiotic stresses, the involvement of flavonoids in stress signaling networks, and the physiological response of plants under stress conditions are discussed in this review. Moreover, molecular and genetic approaches to tailoring flavonoid biosynthesis and regulation under abiotic stress are addressed in this review.