Plants being sessile organisms are often exposed to various abiotic stress conditions, which greatly hamper the growth, yields as well as the quality of produce. Plants respond to abiotic stresses in an exceptionally complex and coordinated manner, involving the interactions and crosstalk with many metabolic-molecular pathways. One of the most common responses is generation of reactive chemical species including reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), reactive carbonyl species (RCS) and reactive sulfur species (RSS). ROS and RNS have long attracted attention from the plant researchers for both their damaging as well as protective effects. However, several reports are emerging to confirm similar roles played by the relatively newer 'reactive' members, the RCS and RSS. Plant reactive species are also hailed as vivacious signaling molecules that play regulatory roles in many plant metabolic procedures. Undeniably, these reactive species are involved in virtually all aspects of plant cell functions. Reactive species and the antioxidant machinery maintain a delicate but critical cellular redox-balance which gets disturbed under stress conditions, where their biosynthesis, transportation, scavenging and the overall metabolism gets decisive for plant survival. The current review aims to highlight and discuss the role of ROS, RNS, RCS, and RSS in plants especially under abiotic stresses, cross-talks between them, current approaches and technological advents for their characterization, and a perspective view on exploration/manipulation of the pathways and check-points involved in biosynthesis, transport and scavenging of these reactive species for engineering abiotic stress tolerant crop plants.

作为固着生物的植物通常会遭受各种非生物胁迫条件，这极大地阻碍了其生长，产量以及产品质量。植物以异常复杂和协调的方式响应非生物胁迫，涉及与许多代谢分子途径的相互作用和串扰。最常见的响应之一是反应性化学物质的生成，包括反应性氧种（ROS），反应性氮种（RNS），反应性羰基种（RCS）和反应性硫类（RSS）。长期以来，ROS和RNS既具有破坏性又具有保护作用，因此引起了植物研究者的关注。但是，出现了一些报告，以确认相对较新的“反应性”成员RCS和RSS所扮演的类似角色。植物反应性物种也被誉为活跃的信号分子，在许多植物代谢过程中起调节作用。不可否认，这些反应性物质实际上涉及植物细胞功能的所有方面。反应性物种和抗氧化剂机制维持着微妙但至关重要的细胞氧化还原平衡，这种平衡在压力条件下会受到干扰，在这些条件下它们的生物合成，运输，清除和整体代谢对于植物的生存至关重要。当前的审查旨在突出和讨论ROS，RNS，RCS和RSS在植物中的作用，特别是在非生物胁迫下，它们之间的串扰，表征它们的当前方法和技术出现以及对植物的探索/操作的透视图。生物合成所涉及的途径和检查点，