Understanding how plants respond to stressful environments is critically important, especially for the development of stress-tolerant crops. Soil salinity is an major environmental stress that threatens global agricultural production and food supply. We exploit the salt-tolerant mechanism in maize, the most important C4 crop in the world.

Liang X, Li J, Yang Y*, Jiang C*, Guo Y*. (2024) Designing salt stress-resilient crops: Current progress and future challenges. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. 66:303-329.

Yang Z, Cao Y, Shi Y, Qin F*, Jiang C*, Yang S*. (2023) Genetic and molecular exploration of maize environmental stress resilience: Toward sustainable agriculture. Molecular Plant. 16:1496-1517.

Yin P, Liang X, Zhao H, Xu Z, Chen L, Yang X, Qin F, Zhang J*, Jiang C*. (2023) Cytokinin signaling promotes salt tolerance by modulating shoot chloride exclusion in maize. Molecular Plant. 16:1031-1047.

 Zhang M, Li Y, Liang X, Lu M, Lai J, Song W, Jiang C*. (2023) A teosinte-derived allele of an HKT1 family sodium transporter improves salt tolerance in maize. Plant Biotechnology Journal. 21:97-108.

Wang Y, Cao Y, Liang X, Zhuang J, Wang X, Qin F, Jiang C*. (2022) A dirigent family protein confers variation of Casparian strip thickness and salt tolerance in maize. Nature Communications. 13:2222.

Zhou X, Li J, Wang Y, Liang X, Zhang M, Lu M, Guo Y, Qin F, Jiang C*. (2022) The classical SOS pathway confers natural variation of salt tolerance in maize. New Phytologist. 236:479-494.

Liang X, Liu S, Wang T, Li F, Cheng J, Lai J, Qin F, Li Z*, Wang X*, Jiang C*. (2021) Metabolomics-driven gene mining and genetic improvement of tolerance to salt-induced osmotic stress in maize. New Phytologist. 230:2355-2370.

Cao Y, Zhang M, Liang X, Li F, Shi Y, Yang X, Jiang C*. (2020) Natural Variation of an EF-hand Ca²⁺-binding-protein coding gene confers saline-alkaline tolerance in maize. Nature Communications. 11:186.

Zhang M, Liang X, Wang L, Cao Y, Song W, Shi J, Lai J, Jiang C* (2019) A HAK family Na⁺ transporter confers natural variation of salt tolerance in maize. Nature Plants 5:1297-1308.

Cao Y, Liang X, Yin P, Zhang M, Jiang C*. (2019) A domestication-associated reduction in K⁺-preferring HKT transporter activity underlies maize shoot K⁺ accumulation and salt tolerance. New Phytologist. 222:301-317.

Zhang M, Cao Y, Wang Z, Wang ZQ, Shi J, Liang X, Song W, Chen Q, Lai J, Jiang C*. (2018) A retrotransposon in an HKT1 family sodium transporter causes variation of leaf Na⁺ exclusion and salt tolerance in maize, New Phytologist. 217:1161-1176.

Jiang C^#,*, Mithani A^#, Belfield EJ, Mott R, Hurst LD, Harberd NP^*. (2014) Environmentally responsive genome-wide accumulation of de novo Arabidopsis thaliana mutations and epimutations. Genome Research. 24:1821-1829.

Jiang C, Belfield EJ, Cao Y, Smith JA, Harberd NP^*. (2013) An Arabidopsis soil-salinity-tolerance mutation confers ethylene-mediated enhancement of sodium/potassium homeostasis. Plant Cell 25: 3535-3552.

Jiang C, Belfield EJ, Mithani A, Visscher A, Ragoussis J, Mott R, Smith JA, Harberd NP^*. (2012) ROS-mediated vascular homeostatic control of root-to-shoot soil Na delivery in Arabidopsis. EMBO Journal. 31: 4359-4370.

Jiang C, Mithani A, Gan X, Belfield EJ, Klingler JP, Zhu JK, Ragoussis J, Mott R, Harberd NP^*. (2011) Regenerant Arabidopsis lineages display a distinct genome-wide spectrum of mutations conferring variant phenotypes. Current Biology. 21: 1385-1390.

Jiang C, Gao X, Liao L, Harberd NP, Fu X^*. (2007) Phosphate starvation root architecture and anthocyanin accumulation responses are modulated by the gibberellin-DELLA signaling pathway in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology. 145: 1460-1470.

Jiang C, Fu X^*. (2007) GA action: turning on de-DELLA repressing signaling. Current Opinion Plant Biology. 10: 461-465.