Reyazul Rouf Mir

In the face of unprecedented global climate challenges, agricultural systems must adapt to a convergence of multifactorial stresses—drought, salinity, temperature fluctuations, nutrient limitations, pathogen outbreaks and other abiotic stresses—many of which occur concurrently, amplifying their impact and threatening crop yield, quality, and global food security (Fedoroff et al., 2010;Jiang et al., 2025). Through the integration of genome-wide analyses such as Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), transcriptomics, QTL mapping, epigenetic profiling, functional genomics and microbiome research, these studies not only deepen our understanding of plant stress biology but also lay the groundwork for a paradigm shift in crop improvement—one that embraces holobiont-based breeding (Huitzil et al., 2023) and systems-level thinking for resilience in a rapidly changing climate. Molecular, epigenetic, and evolutionary insights of gene families in plant defense and disease resistance Understanding gene expression and regulatory mechanisms under stress is essential for designing resilient crops.Ahmad et al.explored the transcriptomic response of date palm roots to salinity stress in the presence of the beneficial root endophyte Piriformospora indica. Liu et al.studied tobacco cropping systems, showing that crop rotation and fertilization alter rhizosphere metabolites (lipids, amino acids) and microbial diversity (e.g., mycorrhizae), enhancing soil health and plant productivity.Tyagi et al.provide a timely mini-review on the complex interplay between waterlogging stress, plant microbiomes, and disease development.

The world population will surpass nine billion by 2050; hence the yield of primary staple crops must increase to feed the growing world population (Tilman et al. 2011; Ray et al. 2013; Molotoks et al. 2021). Another challenge facing agriculture is increasing global temperature, which is expected to be1.1 to 5.4 °C warmer by the end of this century (Tollefson 2020). Given these dire predictions, crops are expected to experience heat stress during their growing season and more frequent droughts (Mir et al. 2012; Zhao et al. 2017; Fahad et al. 2017; Rustgi et al. 2021). These changes would result in nutritional insecurity and instability owing to crop productivity decreases, specifically in the world’s resource-deprived and most populated parts (Maja and Ayano 2021; Molotoks et al. 2021). Plant breeders are finding novel ways to meet this ever-increasing demand for food grains given the climatic atrocities such as increasing global temperatures, erratic rain patterns, and accompanying changes in pest and pathogen populations (White et al. 2011; Maja and Ayano 2021). Another layer of complexity is diminishing resources (land and water availability, soil health, and increasing production cost), the demand to reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint, and adaptation of rentable practices to improve sustainably in agriculture. To meet these targets, plant breeders have developed improved cultivars of different crop plants largely by using conventional plant breeding approaches involving genetic crossing and selection for the desired traits, but this strategy primarily focused on the crop’s primary gene pool (Kaiser et al. 2020). However, recent advances now mean that molecular plant breeding can include genomic and biotechnological approaches, offering plant breeders to introduce desired genetic changes in the crop genome from a wider gene pool with greater precision and speed. Therefore, the conventional crop improvement approaches are aggressively being supplemented by molecular plant breeding approaches to achieve the desired outcome in a relatively short duration (Hasan et al. 2021).