Abstract
Waterlogging is a major abiotic stress affecting crop plants throughout the world, which hampers crop growth and causes yield loss. There are various types of responses in plants under this stress through the combined operation of different signaling and physiological pathways. However, the correlation between these pathways is extremely limited and not well described in the published papers. Therefore, the complex waterlogging stress-tolerance mechanisms need to be presented most coherently for a comprehensive understanding of this stress. Here, we present sequential responses in plants under oxygen-deprivation stress. The regulation of the N-end rule pathway may be treated as the initial signaling in plants after facing waterlogging stress, but still, it remains a controversial topic. All the pathways under waterlogging stress are directly or indirectly related to glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, programmed cell death (PCD) and removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Scientists may consider alanine aminotransferase as the main controlling switch for surviving of plants under waterlogging stress. Triggering the genes responsible for alanine aminotransferase may act as a crucial one to develop a waterlogging tolerant plant due to its ability to control anaerobic fermentation, TCA cycle and efficient utilization of carbons.