Hydrogen Peroxide and Plant Stress: A Challenging Relationship

The relationship between plants and hydrogen peroxide is a challenging one: H2O2 has many essential roles in plant metabolism but at the same time, accumulation related to virtually any environmental stress is potentially damaging. In this review, I consider H2O2 physiology broadly, both as a stress and as a developmentally and physiologically important metabolite, including its sources and mobility, and the vexing question of tissue level concentrations. I then consider problems associated with H2O2 as a signaling molecule, including mechanisms of H2O2 sensing, signaling, and response networks. Finally, I discuss recent advances in transcript network modeling, and complex systems approaches to understanding the interactions between the transcriptome, proteome and metabolome in responses to H2O2. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________