Genetic and Molecular Exploration of Maize Environmental Stress Resilience: Towards Sustainable Agriculture.

Global climate change exacerbates the effects of environmental stressors, such as drought, flooding, extreme temperatures, salinity and alkalinity, on crop growth and grain yield, threatening the sustainability of the food supply. Maize (Zea mays) is one of the most widely cultivated crops and the most abundant grain crop in production worldwide. However, maize yield stability is highly dependent on environmental conditions. Recently, great progress has been achieved in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying maize responses to environmental stresses and developing stress-resilient varieties through the rapid advancement of high-throughput sequencing technologies, multi-omics analytic platforms and automated phenotyping facilities. In this review, we summarize recent advances in dissecting the genetic components contributing to maize abiotic stress tolerance through diverse genetic strategies. In addition, we discuss the future challenges and opportunities for developing climate-resilient maize varieties.