Summary: Efficient plant acclimation to changing environmental conditions relies on fast adjustments of the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome. Regulation of enzyme activity depends on the activity of specific chaperones, chemical post‐translational modifications (PTMs) of amino acid residues, and changes in the cellular and organellar microenvironment. Central to carbon assimilation, and thus plant growth and yield, Rubisco activity is regulated by its chaperone Rubisco activase (Rca) and by adjustments in the chloroplast stroma environment. Focused on crops, this review highlights the main PTMs and stromal ions and metabolites affecting Rubisco and Rca in response to environmental stimuli. Rca isoforms differ in regulatory properties and heat sensitivity, with expression changing according to the surrounding environment. Much of the physiological relevance of Rubisco and Rca PTMs is still poorly understood, though some PTMs have been associated with Rubisco regulation in response to stress. Ion and metabolite concentrations in the chloroplast change in response to variations in light and temperature. Some of these changes promote Rubisco activation while others inhibit activation, deactivate the enzyme, or change the rates of catalysis. Understanding these regulatory mechanisms will aid the development of strategies to improve carbon fixation by Rubisco under rapidly changing environments as experienced by crop plants.

Aiming to mimic a more realistic field condition and to determine convergent and divergent responses of individual stresses in relation to their combination, we explored physiological, biochemical, and metabolomic alterations after drought and heat stress imposition (alone and combined) and recovery, using a drought-tolerant Eucalyptus globulus clone. When plants were exposed to drought alone, the main responses included reduced pre-dawn water potential (Ψ_pd) and gas exchange. This was accompanied by increases in malondialdehyde (MDA) and total glutathione, indicative of oxidative stress. Abscisic acid (ABA) levels increased while the content of jasmonic acid (JA) fell. Metabolic alterations included reductions in the levels of sugar phosphates accompanied by increases in starch and non-structural carbohydrates. Levels of α-glycerophosphate and shikimate were also reduced while free amino acids increased. On the other hand, heat alone triggered an increase in relative water content (RWC) and Ψ_pd. Photosynthetic rate and pigments were reduced accompanied by a reduction in water use efficiency. Heat-induced a reduction of salicylic acid (SA) and JA content. Sugar alcohols and several amino acids were enhanced by the heat treatment while starch, fructose-6-phosphate, glucose-6-phosphate, and α-glycerophosphate were reduced. Contrary to what was observed under drought, heat stress activated the shikimic acid pathway. Drought-stressed plants subject to a heat shock exhibited a sharp decrease in gas exchange, Ψ_pd and JA, no alterations in electrolyte leakage, MDA, starch, and pigments and increased glutathione pool in relation to control. Comparing this with drought stress alone, subjecting drought stressed plants to an additional heat stress alleviated Ψ_pd and MDA, maintained an increased glutathione pool and reduced starch content and non-structural carbohydrates. A novel response triggered by the combined stress was the accumulation of cinnamate. Regarding recovery, most of the parameters affected by each stress condition reversed after re-establishment of control growing conditions. These results highlight that the combination of drought and heat provides significant protection from more detrimental effects of drought-stressed eucalypts, confirming that combined stress alter plant metabolism in a novel manner that cannot be extrapolated by the sum of the different stresses applied individually.

The importance of tree genetic variability in the ability of forests to respond and adapt to environmental changes is crucial in forest management and conservation. Along with genetics, recent advances have highlighted “epigenetics” as an emerging and promising field of research for the understanding of tree phenotypic plasticity and adaptive responses. In this paper, we review recent advances in this emerging field and their potential applications for tree researchers and breeders, as well as for forest managers. First, we present the basics of epigenetics in plants before discussing its potential for trees. We then propose a bibliometric and overview of the literature on epigenetics in trees, including recent advances on tree priming. Lastly, we outline the promises of epigenetics for forest research and management, along with current gaps and future challenges. Research in epigenetics could use highly diverse paths to help forests adapt to global change by eliciting different innovative silvicultural approaches for natural- and artificial-based forest management.

Despite great interest, not only from the economic point of view but also in terms of basic science, research on heat stress tolerance in conifers remains scarce. To fill this gap, a time-course experiment using expected temperature increase was performed aiming to identify physiological and biochemical traits that allow the characterization of heat-induced thermotolerance and recovery in Pinus radiata D. Don plants. Several physiological parameters were assessed during heat exposure and after recovery, and multiple phytohormones—abscisic acid (ABA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), cytokinins (CKs), gibberellins, jasmonic acid, salicylic acid (SA) and brassinosteroids—were quantified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry from unique sample. Furthermore, tissue specific stress-signaling was monitored by IAA and ABA immunolocalization. Multivariate statistical analysis of the data enabled clustering of the shorter- and longer-term effects of heat stress exposure. Two sequential physiological responses were identified: an immediate and a delayed response, essentially determined by specific phytohormones, proline, malondialdehyde and total soluble sugar patterns. Results showed that ABA and SA play a crucial role in the first stage of response to heat stress, probably due to the plant's urgent need to regulate stomatal closure and counteract the increase in oxidative membrane damage demonstrated in shorter-term exposures. However, in longer exposures and recovery, proline, total sugars, IAA and CKs seem to be more relevant. This integrated approach pinpointed some basic mechanisms of P. radiata physiological responses underlying thermotolerance processes and after recovery.