Exploring the impact of membrane transporters in abiotic stress mitigation: Advances and applications in plant resilience.

Membrane transporters (MTs) are pivotal for maintaining cellular homeostasis and facilitating the movement of ions, water, and nutrients across cellular membranes, ensuring plant growth and development. These proteins are central in regulating the source-to-sink relationship, enabling efficient sugar and nutrient transport, and ensuring resilience against abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, heat, cold, and heavy metal toxicity. Key transporters, including Na/H antiporters and K channels, maintain ionic balance by mediating ion compartmentalization and efflux critical for plant survival, improving nutrient use efficiency. Additionally, nitrate-responsive signaling cascades, such as the miR444-OsMADS27 module, highlight the integration of nutrient sensing and stress adaptation mechanisms, promoting root growth and stress tolerance. Dynamic lipid and protein remodeling in the plasma membrane under abiotic stress ensures membrane fluidity and integrity, enabling optimal membrane transporter function. Recent insights into the roles of anion transporters, like the chloride channel AtCLCf, strengthen their significance in salinity tolerance by regulating ion efflux. This review aims to compile current findings from major crops, emphasising membrane transporter's genetic and functional diversity. Advances in understanding membrane transporter regulation and their interplay with membrane lipidomes provide avenues to enhance stress resilience and improve crop productivity under challenging environments.