Advances in molecular mechanism of horticultural crops response to adversity stress

Adversity stress dramatically influences the morphology, physiology, biochemistry and molecular properties of plants, thus affecting the photosynthesis. As one of the most significant agricultural industries in the world, the horticulture industry causes huge economic losses every year due to the harsh environments. As a result, it is of great importance to study the mechanism of cold and drought resistance of horticultural plants. This thesis reviews the research progress related to adversity stress in horticultural plants in the past five years. It is found that improving cold and drought tolerance of plant is a rather complex adaption mechanism and regular network. Under the adversity stress conditions, the electrical conductivity of plant leaf presents a rising trend. The longer the stress time, the more the conductivity increases, which may be related to the damage of plant cell membrane structure under long-term adversity stress. In addition, past few years have witnessed the study of several important genes and transcription factors that regulate plant anti-adversity. Among them, AP2/ERF and NAC transcription factors respond to drought and low temperature stress at the same time, which is of significant research value for the subsequent cultivation of stress-resistant varieties. Therefore, at the molecular level, microorganisms, genetic engineering, and metabolic engineering techniques can be adopted to regulate plant antioxidant enzyme activities and maintain the cell osmotic pressure balance, so as to improve the plant resistance to low temperature and drought.