Antioxidant Defense in Plants

This edited book highlights the molecular basis of various enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, defense mechanisms and adaptation strategies employed by plants to avoid the stressful conditions. Special focus is given to gene expression, omics and other latest technologies such as CRISPR-Cas mediated genome editing applications for defense related studies in plants. Environmental stresses such as drought, salinity or floods etc. induce the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which causes severe damage to cell membrane integrity by accelerating lipid peroxidation. To counteract the detrimental effect of ROS, plants are inherited with an intricate and vibrant antioxidant defense system, comprised of enzymatic (catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, glutathione S-transferase, guaiacol peroxidase, monodehydroascorbate reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase etc.), and non-enzymatic (glutathione, ascorbate, α-tocopherol, carotenoids, flavonoids etc.) antioxidants, which scavenge and/or reduce excess ROS and improve plant tolerance to various stresses. Stress tolerance in most crop plants is positively correlated with an efficient antioxidant system. Therefore, studying the efficiency of antioxidant defense systems in plants is necessary for facilitating the plant’s nature of adaptation against challenging environments. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers and academic experts. Also, the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of biotechnology and molecular biology of plants.

Dr. Tariq Aftab received his Ph.D. in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India, and is currently an Assistant Professor there. He is the recipient of a prestigious Leibniz-DAAD fellowship from Germany, Raman Fellowship from the Government of India, and Young Scientist Awards from the State Government of Uttar Pradesh (India) and Government of India. After completing his doctorate, he has worked as Research Fellow at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi and as Post-doctorate Fellow at Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India. Dr. Aftab also worked as Visiting Scientist at Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany, and in the Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, USA. He is a member of various scientific associations from India and abroad.

He has edited 15 books with international publishers, co-authored several book chapters, and published over 75 research/review papers in peer-reviewed international journals. His research interests include physiological, proteomic, and molecular studies on medicinal and crop plants.

Dr Khalid Rehman Hakeem (PhD, FRSB) is presently working as Professor at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After completed his PhD (Botany; specialization in Plant Ecophysiology and Molecular Biology) from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India in 2011, he has worked as Assistant Prof. at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar for a short period. Later he joined Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia and worked there as Post Doctorate Fellow in 2012 and Fellow Researcher (Associate Prof.) from 2013-2016 respectively. He joined King Abdulaziz University in August 2016 and was promoted to professorship in 2019. 

Dr Hakeem has more than twelve years of teaching and research experience in Plant Eco-Physiology, Biotechnology & Molecular biology, Medicinal plant research, Plant-Microbe-soil interactions as well as in Environmental studies. He is the recipient of several fellowships at both national and international levels. He has recently been elected as the Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, London. Prof. Hakeem has served as the Visiting Scientist at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. Currently, he is involved with a number of international research projects with different Govt. organizations. 

So far, Dr Hakeem has authored and edited more than 70 books with International publishers. He has also to his credit 140 research publications in peer reviewed international journals and 65 book chapters in edited volumes with international publishers. 

At present, Dr Hakeem is serving the Editorial board member and reviewer of several high impact international Scientific Journals.