Role of methyl jasmonates in salt stress tolerance in crop plants

Abiotic stress is currently being realized as one of the most ubiquitous and potential threats to human existence resulting in the overwhelming consequences to our health as well as agricultural systems. Jasmonates (JAs), imperative signaling compounds and derivatives of fatty acid metabolism, play a substantial role in mediating a variety of defense responses in plants to overcome different types of stresses. Jasmonates, oxylipin compounds ubiquitous in the plant kingdom, besides regulating different aspects of plant growth and development, evoke and modulate several plant processes by involving diverse crosstalk signaling mechanisms with different hormones and nutrient elements under perturbed environmental conditions. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) acts as a signaling molecule that is perceived by protein receptors involved in the stress responses leading to the induction of signal transduction cascades and activating different antioxidant proteins. The present chapter is aimed at covering (1) the biosynthesis of jasmonates in plants; (2) different roles that MeJa plays under salt stress; (3) signal transduction cascades underlying the stress induced tolerance; (4) brief highlights of future prospects.