Abstract

Plants are often exposed to abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, temperature extremes, and oxidative stress, which markedly impair growth and productivity. Being sessile, plants depend on complex molecular mechanisms for stress adaptation, with transcription factors (TFs) playing a pivotal role in regulating stress-responsive gene expression. Major TF families, including AP2/ERF, NAC, bZIP, MYB, WRKY, HSF, and bHLH, have been widely reported as key regulators of abiotic stress tolerance in crops and model plants. These TFs modulate processes such as osmotic adjustment, ROS scavenging, ion balance, and stress signaling via ABA-dependent and independent pathways.