Author Information
Abstract
Gaseous hydrogen (H2) has emerged as a molecule that has a significant influence on the growth and development of plants, particularly if they are under stress. Often research has shown the ameliorating effects of H2 during drought, in the presence of heavy metals or salt, or during UV light irradiation. Postharvest, H2 has been shown to increase the quality of fruits and vegetables during storage, and slows the senescence of flowers. In molecular terms, H2 has been shown to scavenge hydroxyl radicals and remove peroxynitrite, but not react with other reactive signalling molecules such as nitric oxide. However, not all the molecular actions of H2 have yet been unravelled. This is not a totally comprehensive review of the topic, but hopefully gives an overview of the influence of H2 on some of the molecular events in cells and how this can influence plant physiology. There is no doubt that H2 has significant effects in plants, and there is potential scope for its wide adoption throughout the agricultural sector.
Keywords
References

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.