Beat the heat: need for research studying plant cell death induced by extreme temperatures

Abstract

Extreme temperatures surpassing 45°C can cause widespread plant damage and mortality, with severe consequences for ecosystem health, agricultural productivity, and urban greenery, thus negatively impacting human well-being. The global land area experiencing regular heatwaves is increasing, and this trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Despite this alarming scenario, the molecular mechanisms underlying plant thermotolerance and responses to extreme heat-induced damage are not fully understood. As cells are the basic building blocks of the plant, studies at the cellular level are required to elucidate the fine-tuned signaling pathways regulating plant cell death and survival under high heat stress, thereby generating knowledge needed to better understand extreme temperature responses at the whole plant level. Well-established model systems that allow accurate measurement and quantification of stress-induced programmed cell death have a strong potential to enable multifactorial studies, including the use of heat regimes informed by natural settings and combinatorial stress experiments. The knowledge gained as a result can inform the development of effective heat stress mitigation strategies. Studying how plant cells cope with extreme heat is aligned with the One Health approach, several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and is, therefore, a research area that demands urgent attention.