Mechanistic Role of Reactive Oxygen Species and Its Regulation via the Antioxidant System under Environmental Stress

The antioxidant potential is referred to as compounds that are capable of protecting the biological system against the deleterious effect of reactions involving reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are toxic byproducts of oxygen metabolism. ROS have a significant role in plant signaling, growth, development, and majorly in response to environmental fluctuations. The ROS family plays a double role under various environmental stress conditions. In various key physiological phenomena, they act as secondary messengers and induce oxidative damage. ROS led to cellular damages that manifest themselves in degradation of biomolecules, which eventually amalgamate to cellular death in plants. To assure survival, plants have developed efficient antioxidant machinery having two branches, that is, an enzymatic and a nonenzymatic antioxidant. This chapter will emphasize the various types of ROS, their sites of cellular production, targets, and scavenging mechanisms mediated by antioxidants in abiotic stress. Such profound knowledge will let us build strategies against environmental stress.