This Editorial reflects on the past 50 years of Functional Plant Biology and its future directions.

It is challenging to isolate transmembrane Ca²⁺ currents that are activated during the generation of action potentials in plants. We applied several different Ca²⁺ channel blockers (verapamil, tetrandrine, and NED-19). It was found that, while verapamil and NED-19 did affect Ca²⁺ currents, non-specific effects were also observed, compromising the usage of these blockers as selective means of distinguishing Ca²⁺ currents in plants.

Pyrene, a toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, has detrimental effects on plants. Pyrene inhibits photosynthetic efficiency and decreases biomass of soyabean. Bacillus subtilis (NCIM 5594) in soil overcomes inhibitory effects of pyrene. About 70% degradation of pyrene was achieved in soil using B. subtilis.

After inoculation of fungal pathogens, the plant cells can be stimulated to change their protein phosphorylation levels in response to the fungal chitin. In this study, we performed quantitative phosphoproteomics analysis to study the changes in the plasma membrane after fungal chitin treatment in Arabidopsis thaliana L. Our results may provide new insights into the pathways of chitin-induced plant responses.

The antioxidant and ascorbate-glutathione cycle of two types of salt-tolerant watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) seedlings under NaCl stress reveal an cytokinin regulated watermelon acclimation mechanism to the NaCl stress.

A hydroponic experiment with (8 mmol L⁻¹) and without manganese was established to explore the mechanisms of manganese tolerance of Polygonum lapathifolium Linn via the effects on photosynthesis and metabolism. The results showed that manganese increased plant biomass, photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance. Moreover, among 1022 metabolites, 56 were significantly differentially accumulated, and flavonoids may be the key to the high tolerance of P. lapathifolium. The increased energy and photosynthates from photosynthesis were not allocated to amino acid synthesis.