Molecular networks and signaling pathways governing abiotic stress tolerance in cotton: advances and perspectives

Climate change poses more challenges to the productivity of cotton because of the increasing influence of Abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, heat, cold, and heavy metal toxicity. Complex, polygenic, and linkage drag challenge the conventional breeding of stress tolerance. The development of molecular biology and biotechnology has helped to explain the regulatory and signaling network in abiotic stress responses in cotton. It is a review of the existing information on the perception of stress, signal transduction and adaptive responses in cotton with the primary emphasis on the main pathways such as calcium signaling, reactive oxygen species (ROS) dynamics, abscisic acid (ABA)-mediated responses, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and hormone-regulated networks that facilitate cellular homeostasis to stress. Gene regulation under stress by the crucial functions of transcription factors like DREB, NAC, MYB, bZIP, and WRKY is discussed. New epigenetic changes, such as m6A RNA methylation and non-coding RNAs, are being discussed as important factors in gene expression. We also mention the most recent genetic engineering, genome editing, omics and synthetic biology approaches that explain the stress response networks and enhance the resilience of cotton. The combination of these molecular and biotechnological solutions gives a platform on which model dynamic regulatory circuits are to be constructed to enhance cotton tolerance in promoting sustainable crop enhancement.