Roles of S-nitrosylation in abiotic stress tolerance in plants

Abstract In the plant kingdom, various environmental stresses are the main threats affecting crop growth and production. During stress, various physiological and biochemical changes occur in plants, which include the production of nitric oxide (NO). It is well documented that NO might work usually by regulating gene transcription or mediating secondary messengers. Furthermore, NO also play critical roles in controlling multiple biological processes by directly modifying diverse proteins. The redox-based posttranslational modification S-nitrosylation, the covalent attachment of an NO moiety to a reactive cysteine thiol of a protein to form an S-nitrosothiol (SNO), has attracted increasing attention in the regulation of abiotic stress response. So far, the S-nitrosylation of certain proteins has been investigated under abiotic stress. In this book chapter, we focus on the current state of knowledge regarding S-nitrosylation in plants challenged by abiotic stress, and provide a better comprehension of the importance of the work demonstrating the roles of S-nitrosylation during plant abiotic stress response, and the challenges of the work is also discussed.