Hydrogen sulfide: Roles in plant abiotic stress response and crosstalk with other signals

•H2S donors are important tools to explore the roles of H2S in plants.•H2S enhances plant stress tolerance by regulating Na+/K+ homeostasis.•Antioxidant system, AsA-GSH cycle and H2S-Cys cycle are involved in plant response to abiotic stresses.•Interactions between H2S, NO, phytohormones and polyamines are important in plant response to abiotic stresses.•Persulfidation modification is a promising direction for H2S study. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been recently recognized as an endogenous gas transmitter alongside nitric oxide and carbon monoxide. Exposure of plants to H2S, for example through applicating H2S donors, reveals that H2S play important roles in plant response to abiotic stresses such as heavy metals, salinity, drought and extreme temperatures. Sodium hydrosulfide is the most widely used donor in plants due to its direct and instantaneous release of H2S, followed by GYY4137. H2S can enhance plant tolerance to salt and heavy metal stresses through regulating Na+/K+ homeostasis and the uptake and transport of metal ions. H2S also promotes the H2S-Cys cycle balance under abiotic stress and enhances its roles in regulation of the antioxidant system, alternative respiratory pathway, and heavy metal chelators synthesis. H2S coordinates with gaseous signal molecules, reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide to respond to stress directly through influencing their generation or competing for the regulation of the downstream signaling. Moreover, H2S interacts with phytohormones including abscisic acid, ethylene, salicylic acid and melatonin as well as polyamines to regulate plant response to abiotic stresses. In this review, the application of H2S donors and their functional mechanism are summarized. We propose promising new research directions, which can lead to new insights on the role of this gastrasmitter during plant growth and development.