Chemical priming as a sustainable tool for improved crop production

Chemical priming is the practice of treating plants with natural or synthetic compounds to increase stress tolerance. Such a strategy can contribute towards crop improvement and ultimately towards good health and sustainable agricultural practices. Chemical priming has been shown to enhance crop production and stress tolerance in commercially important crops, offering a unique opportunity to improve crop production without the need for genetically modifying crop plants. In recent years, much progress has been made in chemical priming, ranging from screening chemical libraries for stress tolerance, as well as utilizing plant hormones, metabolites, and synthetic compounds as potential priming agents to improve plant growth and crop improvement.

This special issue aims to explore the latest trends in the chemical biology of plants, including (but not limited to) plant stress response.