ABSTRACT
Abstract. The crop productivity and quality of plants is adversely affected by salinity stress. Salt stress imposes ionic imbalance and hyperosmotic stress in plants, which ultimately elicit secondary stresses such as oxidative damage. Accumulation of a cytotoxic compound methylglyoxal (MG) is a general stress response in plants during salinity stress. MG is a dicarbonyl compound and causes degradation of proteins by formation of advanced glycation end products. Therefore, in order to survive under stressful conditions, plants must upregulate MG detoxification process to avoid cellular damage. Glyoxalase system plays a crucial role in
abiotic stress tolerance by maintaining an appropriate level of MG by regulating GSH-based reactive oxygen species detoxification. Recent studies have shown that glyoxalase systems are important for stress tolerance in plants and modulation of the detoxification pathway making the plants more tolerant to various abiotic stresses. In this chapter, we summarize the current knowledge on the glyoxalase enzymes and their proposed role during salinity stress tolerance.
