Hany Almotairy's research while affiliated with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and other places

In the face of escalating soil contamination, this chapter meticulously examines the multifaceted strategies employed to mitigate metal/metalloid stress in crops, an imperative endeavor for maintaining agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. Central to the discussion is exploring advanced phytoremediation techniques alongside the strategic use of soil amendments, highlighting their efficacy in decontaminating metal/metalloid-laden soils. The narrative further extends to the crucial role of mycorrhizal fungi in enhancing plant resilience against metal/metalloid toxicity and the innovative application of genetic engineering and breeding techniques aimed at cultivating metal/metalloid-tolerant crop varieties. Moreover, the chapter sheds light on integrating cutting-edge soil remediation technologies, including electrokinetic and nanotechnology, showcasing their potential to revolutionize conventional remediation practices. The synthesis of these strategies underscores the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach, blending traditional methods with technological innovations to develop sustainable and effective solutions for metal/metalloid stress in agriculture. Additionally, the chapter emphasizes the need for robust policy frameworks and sophisticated monitoring tools to manage soil health comprehensively, advocating for a holistic strategy to safeguard agricultural landscapes against metal/metalloid contamination.

This chapter rigorously examines soil toxic metal/metalloid contamination and its profound implications on crop resilience, focusing on abiotic stress conditions. It begins by elucidating the natural and anthropogenic origins of soil contamination, illustrating how plants absorb these toxicants, and elaborating on their physio-molecular responses. The chapter accentuates the detrimental manifestations of impaired photosynthesis, nutrient uptake, and oxidative stress management, underscoring the urgent need for effective mitigation strategies. Phytoremediation and genetic engineering advancements are explored as promising strategies to optimize plant resilience in contaminated environments. Novel methodologies, including phytochelatins and the strategic application of genetic engineering, demonstrate potential in improving plant growth and resilience, showcasing significant advancements toward sustainable agricultural practices. Moreover, the interaction between plants and soil microbes is dissected, revealing a symbiotic relationship that influences the bioavailability of toxic metals/metalloids and optimizes plant health under stress conditions. This insight into microbial assistance opens new avenues for research and application in crop management and soil remediation. This chapter contributes essential knowledge toward bolstering crop resilience against toxic metal/metalloid contamination by presenting cutting-edge research findings and sophisticated mitigation techniques. It emphasizes the critical role of innovative research in overcoming the challenges posed by soil contamination, paving the way for achieving sustainable agricultural productivity and food security in the face of environmental stressors.

This research aimed to investigate heat shock proteins in the tomato genome through the analysis of amino acids. The highest length among sequences was found in seq19 with 3534 base pairs. This seq19 was reported and contained a family of proteins known as HsfA that have a domain of transcriptional activation for tolerance to heat and other abiotic stresses. The values of the codon adaptation index (CAI) ranged from 0.80 in Seq19 to 0.65 in Seq10, based on the mRNA of heat shock proteins for tomatoes. Asparagine (AAT, AAC), aspartic acid (GAT, GAC), phenylalanine (TTT, TTC), and tyrosine (TAT, TAC) have relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) values bigger than 0.5. In modified relative codon bias (MRCBS), the high gene expressions of the amino acids under heat stress were histidine, tryptophan, asparagine, aspartic acid, lysine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, cysteine, and threonine. RSCU values that were less than 0.5 were considered rare codons that affected the rate of translation, and thus selection could be effective by reducing the frequency of expressed genes under heat stress. The normal distribution of RSCU shows about 68% of the values drawn from the standard normal distribution were within 0.22 and −0.22 standard deviations that tend to cluster around the mean. The most critical component based on principal component analysis (PCA) was the RSCU. These findings would help plant breeders in the development of growth habits for tomatoes during breeding programs.