Emerging strategies to improve heat stress tolerance in crops

The heat stress (HS) response in plants involves complex processes at the molecular, cellular, and whole-organism levels. Sensitivity to HS differs based on the species and developmental stage of the plant, making it challenging to define HS and its impacts. Efforts to enhance HS tolerance by traditional breeding are constrained by limited genetic resources, but understanding the mechanisms that regulate HS responses can enable efforts to improve heat tolerance by precision breeding and gene editing. Here, we review recent research on the effects of HS on major cereal crops at different developmental stages and identify key genes potentially involved in the HS response, offering insight for precision molecular breeding. Additionally, we discuss the use of favorable natural variants and gene editing to improve crop tolerance to HS, emphasizing the value of alleles involved in thermomemory, combined stress tolerance, and the stress response-growth balance. This review aims to summarize recent advancements in understanding HS responses in crops, highlighting potential avenues for generating heat-tolerant crops. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42994-024-00195-z.