Recent trends in transcriptional regulation of cold stress tolerance in plants

Abstract Plants are frequently exposed to a wide variety of environmental stressors, including heat, salinity, cold, drought, heavy metals, and other abiotic stresses. These stresses have a significant impact on the productivity, growth, and development of plants. One of the main abiotic stresses that reduces crop productivity is cold (freezing or chilling). Various mechanisms involving altered physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes have been evolved by plants to cope with cold stress. Developments in molecular biology and genetics have produced a number of tools for analyzing the molecular networks underlying a particular trait. Recent developments in genomics have made it easier to comprehend the genetic basis of plants' resistance to cold stress. Being a complex trait, cold stress in plants is governed by more than one gene, including transcription factors that facilitate plants' survival in adverse conditions. In this review, we focus on the state of knowledge on the molecular processes that plants use to adapt to cold stress. There is also discussion of the functions of different transcription factors in plant adaptation and how to use them to enhance crops. Climate variability is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of abiotic stressors like cold, making this research especially relevant to the sustainability of agricultural and food systems. The development of resilient crop varieties and the establishment of sustainable food production, environmental conservation, and rural livelihoods are discussed in this review, which examines the molecular mechanisms, genetic factors, and biotechnological tools involved in cold stress tolerance.