Osmosensing and Signalling in Plants: Potential Role in Crop Improvement Under Climate Change

Osmotic stress and other abiotic stresses have severe impacts on crop productivity. Since climate change is predicted to exacerbate the problem, the development of a new breed of crops, which are tolerant to osmotic stresses, is required. Vicissitudes in contiguous environmental scenarios can be sensed by molecular osmosensors, which sequentially activate cellular signalling proceedings that regulate plant homeostasis for repairs of normal growth and development. However, only limited success has been achieved in agriculture till date primarily because of the lack of a clear understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate osmosensing. In this chapter, we deliberate on the potential mechanisms of osmosensing and signalling in plants, emphasizing the receptor-like kinases, mechanosensitive calcium channels, phospholipase C, aquaporins, and membrane-bound histidine kinases for detection of vicissitudes in extracellular plant osmolarity. Genetic engineering and genome editing of the Osmotic Stress–Regulated (OR) genes and osmosensors including Receptor-Like Kinases (RLKs) and Histidine kinases (HKs) may positively affect stress tolerance by manipulating signalling factors downstream and by elucidating the regulatory mechanism of osmosensors in downstream signalling pathways; designing of the next-generation climate smart crops will be possible.