The impact of multifactorial stress combination on plant growth and survival

Abstract

Climate change-driven extreme weather events, combined with increasing temperatures, harsh soil conditions, low water availability and quality, and the introduction of many manmade pollutants, pose a unique challenge to plants. Although our knowledge of the response of plants to each of these individual conditions is vast, we know very little about how a combination of many of these factors, occurring simultaneously, that is multifactorial stress combination, impacts plants. Seedlings of wild-type and different mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana plants were subjected to a multifactorial stress combination of six different stresses, each applied at a low level, and their survival, physiological and molecular responses determined. Our findings reveal that, while each of the different stresses, applied individually, had a negligible effect on plant growth and survival, the accumulated impact of multifactorial stress combination on plants was detrimental. We further show that the response of plants to multifactorial stress combination is unique and that specific pathways and processes play a critical role in the acclimation of plants to multifactorial stress combination. Taken together our findings reveal that further polluting our environment could result in higher complexities of multifactorial stress combinations that in turn could drive a critical decline in plant growth and survival.

Global Warming, Climate Change, and Environmental Pollution: Recipe for a Multifactorial Stress Combination Disaster

“…Together with the pioneering study of Rillig et al [30], the results reported by Zandalinas et al [31] therefore suggest that, with the increasing number of simultaneously occurring environmental stress factors in our environment, plant life, microbiomes, and soils are likely to deteriorate further ( Figure 2). The similar trends observed in these two studies should serve as a dire warning to our society.…”

“…While the study of Rillig et al [30] demonstrated that multifactorial stress combinations degrade soils (Figure 2A), Zandalinas et al [31] demonstrated that the impact of multifactorial stress combination on plants is similar between plants growing in peat soil ( Figure 2C) or on agar plates ( Figure 2B). Plants growing in peat soil had an overall higher survival rate in response to all stresses and their combinations (providing a possible hint to the important role that the root microbiome could be playing in these processes), nevertheless the multifactorial stress combination impacted plants growing in peat soil in a similar manner to that for plants growing on plates ( Figure 2B,C) [31]. These findings suggest that multifactorial stress combinations are likely to have a complex impact on different environments acting on soil microbiomes, plants, and their interactions.…”

“…Furthermore, owing to the continual increase in many of the processes that drive these factors ( Figure 1A-E) (www. ipcc.ch/), the likelihood that plants will be subjected to a multifactorial stress combination (Box 1) of several co-occurring stressors is gradually increasing [30,31].…”

“…Examining the impact of a multifactorial stress combination on plants, Zandalinas et al [31] subjected arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings to a combination of six different stresses, including heat, salt, high light, cadmium, acidity, and the herbicide paraquat ( Figure 2B,C). In addition to studying the impact of multifactorial stress combination on plant growth and survival, this study also conducted a transcriptomic analysis of a selected set of multifactorial stress combinations and examined the impact of multifactorial stresses on the survival of different mutants impaired in reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism, as well as other metabolic processes and hormonal signaling pathways.…”

“…complexities of multifactorial stress combinations that in turn would drive a crucial decline in plant growth, soil conditions, and overall agricultural productivity [30,31].…”