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Vitamins, since their discovery, have triggered researchers' interest mainly because of their role in human health. They are essential in cell redox reactions and also as enzyme cofactors both in animal and plant kingdoms. Over the recent years their metabolic biosynthetic pathways have been elucidated showing the important role of plant organelles and also their regulation by environmental signals such as light or salinity. In this chapter, we aim to explore the connections between vitamins and plant stress response. Biotic and abiotic stresses are likely to increase in the near future because of anthropogenic contributions and climate change, exacerbating the detrimental effects on plant development and yields. Among different strategies, including breeding by conventional or transgenic approaches, treating plants with natural or synthetic chemicals could enhance their tolerance to various stresses with less impact on their physiology and growth than nontreated plants. The mode of action of these compounds are in most cases unclear; however, the evidence regarding common tolerance activation sites and signaling pathways that appear related to enhanced tolerance against different stresses strongly supports their potential. In this regard, this chapter presents the results of studies of the effect of vitamins and vitamin-derived compounds reported to date on the laboratory model plant Arabidopsis thaliana L. and several other crop species against biotic and abiotic stresses. |
