Molecular priming as an approach to induce tolerance against abiotic andoxidative stresses in crop plants

Abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, extreme temperature, and pollutants, are the main cause of croplosses worldwide. Novel climate-adapted crops and stress tolerance-enhancing compounds are increasinglyneeded to counteract the negative effects of unfavorable stressful environments. A number of natural productsand synthetic chemicals can protect model and crop plants against abiotic stresses through induction of mole-cular and physiological defense mechanisms, a process known as molecular priming. In addition to their stress-protective effect, some of these compounds can also stimulate plant growth. Here, we provide an overview of theknown physiological and molecular mechanisms that induce molecular priming, together with a survey of theapproaches aimed to discover and functionally study new stress-alleviating chemicals.