Past trauma, better future: how stress memory shapes plant adaptation to drought

Can plants remember drought? Emerging evidence suggests that prior stress exposure leaves an epigenetic imprint, reprogramming plants for enhanced resilience. However, the stability and functional relevance of drought memory remain unresolved. This review synthesizes recent advances in epigenetic modifications, transcriptional reprogramming, and metabolic priming, critically assessing their roles in plant stress adaptation. DNA methylation dynamically reshapes chromatin landscapes, yet its transient nature questions its long-term inheritance. Histone modifications, particularly H3K9ac and H2Bub1, may encode stress signatures, enabling rapid transcriptional responses, whereas small RNAs fine-tune chromatin states to reinforce memory. Beyond epigenetics, physiological priming, including osmotic adjustments, antioxidant defenses, and hormonal crosstalk, introduces further complexity, yet its evolutionary advantage remains unclear. Root system plasticity may enhance drought resilience, but its metabolic trade-offs and epigenetic underpinnings are largely unexplored. A critical challenge is disentangling stable adaptive mechanisms from transient acclimatory shifts. We propose a framework for evaluating drought memory across temporal and generational scales and highlight the potential of precision genome editing to establish causality. By integrating multi-omics, gene editing, and field-based validation, this review aims to unlock the molecular blueprint of drought memory. Understanding these mechanisms is key to engineering climate-resilient crops, ensuring global food security in an era of increasing environmental uncertainty.