Editorial: Gene regulatory networks involved in the molecular response to drought, salt and osmotic stresses in crops

Water shortage and high salinity are global concerns that affect crop production worldwide, with a great impact especially in semi-arid and arid regions. Extreme events due to climate changes are worsening the impact of environmental cues on crop yield. Hence, the development of tolerant genotypes is a primary goal of breeding programs. The physiological and molecular bases of abiotic stress response are not well dissected in crops and few applications of the related knowledge are available to this purpose. In this context, the articles presented in this Research Topic provide novel insights into the plant response to water and salt stresses. The presented works concern: i) the model species Arabidopsis thaliana, in a perspective of translational biology, ii) two stress-tolerant wild species (Aeluropus littoralis and Fagopyrum leptopodum), to discover novel tolerance genes, and iii) two primary crops for human nutrition, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.).