Epigenetic Stress Memory and Adaptive Responses in Plants: Metabolic Reprogramming, Organelle Signalling and Systemic Acclimation.

This review synthesizes evidence that plant stress memory arises from interacting epigenetic regulation, metabolic reprogramming, organelle retrograde signalling, and systemic acquired acclimation.

• Why it matters: It addresses the gap that immediate signalling and short-term acclimation alone cannot explain how plants adjust the magnitude, speed, and quality of later responses after recurring stresses.
• What they did: It integrates mechanisms spanning chromatin accessibility, histone modifications, DNA methylation, RNA-directed DNA methylation, non-coding RNAs, osmolyte accumulation, redox buffering, energy redistribution, autophagy, and membrane remodelling.
• The result: It argues that resilience in fluctuating environments depends on coordinated stress memory, metabolic plasticity, organelle-derived signalling, and long-distance systemic communication, while highlighting gaps in criteria, causal validation, integration, and crop translation.

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