Oxidative stress suppression in plant system and elevation of antioxidant gene expression under diverse stress situations

Environmental stress factors such as salinity, drought, temperature, and heavy metals are important factors that limit product productivity and quality in plants. These stress factors negatively affect biological processes in plants. Thus it can be difficult for plants to grow, develop, and even survive. As a result, reactive oxygen species called superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, and singlet oxygen are formed in plants. These reactive molecules are formed in different compartments and forms in the cell, especially in chloroplasts, mitochondria, and peroxisomes. These molecules attack lipids, proteins, and DNA in the cell, causing cellular oxidative damage and ultimately causing the death of the plant. In order to minimize or completely sweep away the damage caused by ROS in the cell, the antioxidant defense system is activated as the plant’s defense system. Antioxidant molecules such as catalase (CAT), peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase (GR) provide enzymatic defense in the cell, while molecules such as glutathione, tocopherol, and ascorbic acid provide nonenzymatic defense. However, sometimes this defense mechanism of the plant is insufficient to cope with stress. Therefore the increase in antioxidant gene expression in plants exposed to environmental stresses increases the plant’s chance of survival. Advent of biotechnology and genetic engineering technologies enable increasing the expression of antioxidant genes such as superoxide dismutase, CAT, ascorbate peroxidase and GR. Thus increasing antioxidant gene expression is important for product improvement in order to strengthen plants against oxidative damage caused by various stress factors. © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.