1. Salicylic acid : biosynthesis, metabolism and physiological role in plants / S. Hayat, B. Ali and A. Ahmad -- 2. Effects of salicylic acid on the bioproductivity of plants / Alfonso Larque-Saavedra and Rodolfo Martin-Mex -- 3. Effect of salicylic acid on solute transport in plants / M. S. Krasavina -- 4. Role of hormonal system in the manifestation of growth promoting and antistress action of salicylic acid / F. M. Shakirova -- 5. Role of salicylic acid in the induction of abiotic stress tolerance / T. Janda, E. Horvath, G. Szalai and E. Paldi -- 6. The role of salicylates in Rhizobium-legume symbiosis and abiotic stresses in higher plants / Fazli Mabood and Donald Smith -- 7. Stress and antistress effects of salicylic acid and acetyl salicylic acid on potato culture technology / H. A. Lopez-Delgado, I. M. Scott and M. E. Mora-Herrera -- 8. Salicylic acid and reactive oxygen species in the activation of stress defense genes / Loreto Holuigue, Paula Salinas, Francisca Blanco and Virginia Garreton -- 9. The interplay between salicylic acid and reactive oxygen species during cell death in plants / J. F. Dat, N. Capelli and F. Van Breusegem -- 10. Salicylic acid as a defense-related plant hormone : roles of oxidative and calcium signaling paths in salicylic acid biology / Tomonori Kawano and Takuya Furuichi -- 11. Salicylic acid and local resistance to pathogens / Igor V. Maksimov and Lubov G. Yarullina -- 12. Salicylic acid in plant disease resistance / Ratnesh Chaturvedi and Jyoti Shah -- 13. Transcriptomic analysis of salicylic acid-responsive genes in tobacco BY-2 cells / I. Galis and K. Matsuoka