Advances in deciphering salt tolerance mechanism in maize

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a global cereal crop whose demand is projected to double by 2050. Along with worsening of farmland salinization, salt stress has become a major environmental threat to the sustain -ability of maize production worldwide. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to decipher salt-tolerant mechanisms and facilitate the breeding of salt-tolerant maize. As salt tolerance is a complex trait regu-lated by multiple genes, and maize germplasm varies widely in salt tolerance, efforts have been devoted to the identification and application of quantitative-trait loci (QTL) for salt tolerance. QTL associated with ion regulation, osmotic tolerance, and other aspects of salt tolerance have been discovered using genome-wide association studies (GWAS), linkage mapping, and omics-based approaches. This review highlights recent advances in the molecular-level understanding of salt stress response in maize, in particular in (a) the discovery of salt-tolerance QTL, (b) the mechanisms of salt tolerance, (c) the development of salt -tolerant maize cultivars, and (d) current challenges and future prospects.& COPY; 2023 Crop Science Society of China and Institute of Crop Science, CAAS. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This review article discusses the salt stress response in maize and the breeding of salt-tolerant varieties. Through genomics approaches, QTL related to ion regulation and osmotic tolerance have been identified, and the mechanisms of salt tolerance have been studied. These findings have significant implications for addressing the limited maize production worldwide.