ReviewPlants (Basel, Switzerland)2020
Melatonin: Awakening the Defense Mechanisms during Plant Oxidative Stress.
Review in Plants (Basel, Switzerland), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 242 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analysis and systematic review of plant growth regulator use in blueberry production.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Review
- From night hormone to green signal: The journey of melatonin.Protoplasma · 2026Review
- From Abiotic Stress to Emerging Environmental Pollutants: Expanding Roles of Melatonin and NO in Plant Defense.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Biofortification with selenium and melatonin improves seed yield and quality of Phaseolus vulgaris L. under drought stress by enhancing physiological and antioxidant responses.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Melatonin Enhances Crop Tolerance to Aluminum Toxicity in Acid Soils: A Comprehensive Review.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Melatonin pulse treatment optimization: boosting vase life and postharvest quality in cut roses (Rosa hybrida cv. Samurai).BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Effects of exogenous melatonin on photosynthesis physiology biochemistry of blue honeysuckle seedlings under saline-alkali stress.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Exogenous regulators enhance strawberry yield under heat stress conditions.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Melatonin-induced resistance response activation against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici development in tomatoes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Regulation of aluminum induced oxidative stress in Brassica via roles of sulfur metabolites and antioxidant responses mediated by a melatonin selenium nanocomposite.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Melatonin microbe interactions in plant rhizosphere.iScience · 2025Review
- Molecular insights into melatonin-mediated stress tolerance in rice.Plant cell reports · 2025Review
- Aqueous Extract ofJournal of xenobiotics · 2025Article
- Melatonin upregulates photosynthesis, carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism, and antioxidant system under aluminum stress: a sustainable path to higher strawberry yield and quality.Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology · 2025Article
- Dose-dependent effects of melatonin on berberine production, antioxidant activity, and metabolite profiles in Berberis vulgaris L. suspension cultures.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Functional interactions among H2O2, NO, H2S, and melatonin in the physiology, metabolism, and quality of horticultural Solanaceae.Journal of experimental botany · 2025Review
- Eco-physiological and growth responses of two halophytes to saline irrigation and soil amendments in arid conditions.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Systemic role of melatonin in enhancing temperature stress tolerance in fenugreek: coordination of antioxidant defense, hormonal regulation, energy status, sulfur metabolism, and diosgenin pathway genes.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Melatonin is a multifunctional signaling molecule that is ubiquitously distributed in different parts of a plant and responsible for stimulating several physio-chemical responses to adverse environmental conditions. In this review, we show that, although plants are able to biosynthesize melatonin, the exogenous application of melatonin to various crops can improve plant growth and development in response to various abiotic and biotic stresses (e.g., drought, unfavorable temperatures, high salinity, heavy metal contamination, acid rain, and combined stresses) by regulating antioxidant machinery of plants. Current knowledge suggests that exogenously applied melatonin can enhance the stress tolerance of plants by regulating both the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense systems. Enzymic antioxidants upregulated by exogenous melatonin include superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and enzymes involved in the ascorbate-glutathione cycle (ascorbate peroxidase, monodehydroascorbate reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase, and glutathione reductase), whereas levels of non-enzymatic antioxidants such as ascorbate, reduced glutathione, carotenoids, tocopherols, and phenolics are also higher under stress conditions. The enhanced antioxidant system consequently exhibits lower lipid peroxidation and greater plasma membrane integrity when under stress. However, these responses vary greatly from crop to crop and depend on the intensity and type of stress, and most studies to date have been conducted under controlled conditions. This means that a wider range of crop field trials and detailed transcriptomic analysis are required to reveal the gene regulatory networks involved in the between melatonin, antioxidants, and abiotic stress.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.