Transcriptomic, Proteomic, Metabolomic and Functional Genomic Approaches for the Study of Abiotic Stress in Vegetable Crops

Vegetables are plants or portion of plants cultivated for food with a savory flavor and considerably nutritional value with little protein or fat. The yield and quality of vegetable crops are affected by various abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity and low and high temperatures. Higher plants have evolved a series of complex responses in order to adapt to a single or multiple stresses. Recently, high-throughput sequencing has brought powerful and efficient research tools that can lead to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind stress in plants. Many molecular markers, functional and regulatory genes have been discovered based on the genome sequencing. The new technologies, such as transcriptome analysis, digital gene expression, deep sequencing of small RNAs, proteomics, metabolomics, etc. should pave new avenues for studying stress resistance in vegetable crops. Here, we review recent progresses in the transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic and functional genomic approaches that have been used in the field of abiotic stress with vegetable crops. The perspectives on future research and improvement of vegetable crops through applied genomics are provided.