Editorial: Interplay between plant nutrient uptake and abiotic stress

Maintaining nutrient transport systems and ionic balance is essential for plant resilience.Several contributions focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying nutrient transport and homeostasis. For example, genome-wide analyses of magnesium transporter families reveal their functional diversification and essential roles in nutrient uptake and intracellular transport (Hao et al., 2026). In a broader context, magnesium has been identified as a key regulator of photosynthesis, enzyme activity, and stress adaptation, highlighting its importance in plant resilience to abiotic stress (Sarraf et al., 2026).In addition, nutrient interactions play a crucial role in stress mitigation. Evidence from field and experimental studies demonstrates that iron supplementation can alleviate manganese toxicity by restoring nutrient balance and enhancing chlorophyll biosynthesis (Li et al., 2026). Together, these findings emphasize that nutrient transport systems and ionic homeostasis are not isolated processes but are tightly integrated with stress signaling networks, forming a coordinated regulatory system for plant adaptation.The soil environment represents a critical interface influencing nutrient availability and plant responses to stress. Studies in this Research Topic demonstrate that microbial inoculants can accelerate organic matter decomposition, enhance nutrient release, and improve crop productivity, particularly in saline-alkali soils (Wang et al., 2025). These findings highlight the importance of soil microbial activity in regulating nutrient cycling under challenging conditions.Conversely, emerging environmental factors such as microplastic contamination are shown to disrupt soil nitrogen dynamics, reduce nitrogen use efficiency, and negatively affect crop productivity (Sarfraz et al., 2025). These results emphasize the need to consider complex soil-plant-environment interactions when addressing nutrient uptake under abiotic stress. Taken together, these studies highlight that soil processes act as a critical bridge linking environmental stressors with plant nutrient acquisition, reinforcing the importance of belowground-aboveground integration.Advances in high-throughput technologies have enabled deeper insights into the molecular mechanisms governing nutrient-stress interactions. Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses reveal how fertilization strategies regulate gene expression and metabolic pathways, leading to improved nutrient accumulation and plant growth (Xu et al., 2025). Such multi-omics approaches provide a systemslevel framework for dissecting complex nutrient-stress interactions across multiple biological scales.In addition, agronomic studies on nutrient management strategies, including nitrogenpotassium coupling, demonstrate their potential to enhance crop yield and soil quality under specific environmental conditions (Zhong et al., 2025). These findings bridge the gap between molecular insights and practical applications, contributing to the development of sustainable agricultural systems.The studies compiled in this Research Topic collectively illustrate the complexity of the interplay between nutrient uptake and abiotic stress. Future research should focus on integrating molecular, physiological, and ecological approaches to better understand these interactions. In particular, combining multi-omics technologies with field-based studies will be essential for translating fundamental discoveries into practical applications.Moreover, future efforts should prioritize the integration of root-microbiome interactions, high-throughput phenotyping, and machine learning approaches to predict plant performance under stress conditions. Improving nutrient use efficiency and optimizing nutrient management strategies, alongside breeding stress-resilient crop varieties, will be crucial for achieving sustainable agricultural production under changing environmental conditions.In summary, this Research Topic provides new insights into how plants coordinate nutrient uptake, transport, and metabolism in response to abiotic stress. By integrating findings across multiple scales, these studies contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of plant resilience and offer promising strategies for enhancing crop productivity and sustainability in the face of global environmental challenges.