2021/03/26 by Vishnu D. Rajput, Harish Mangesh, Rupesh Kumar Singh +8 · 4 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms #Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance #Plant responses to water stress
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/biology10040267
openalex publication_date 2021/03/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The stationary life of plants has led to the evolution of a complex gridded antioxidant defence system constituting numerous enzymatic components, playing a crucial role in overcoming various stress conditions. Mainly, these plant enzymes are superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferases (GST), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), and dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), which work as part of the antioxidant defence system. These enzymes together form a complex set of mechanisms to minimise, buffer, and scavenge the reactive oxygen species (ROS) efficiently. The present review is aimed at articulating the current understanding of each of these enzymatic components, with special attention on the role of each enzyme in response to the various environmental, especially abiotic stresses, their molecular characterisation, and reaction mechanisms. The role of the enzymatic defence system for plant health and development, their significance, and cross-talk mechanisms are discussed in detail. Additionally, the application of antioxidant enzymes in developing stress-tolerant transgenic plants are also discussed.