Metabolic reprogramming in plant defense: linking signaling networks to metabolomics-driven insights.
Khan S, Korai Z, Yang L, Korai SK, Li S
Plant Signaling
Every time aphids attack your roses or drought grips your garden, your plants are running a sophisticated internal triage — understanding that process is the key to breeding crops and garden varieties that defend themselves without costly pesticides.
When plants face insects, disease, or drought, they don't just sit there — they launch a coordinated chemical response, shifting energy and resources toward making protective compounds. Think of it like a factory retooling its assembly lines during a crisis. Scientists are now using advanced chemical-sensing tools to watch this entire reshuffling happen in real time, revealing which internal messengers flip the switches that turn a normal plant into a defended one.
Key Findings
Four key plant hormones — salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, ethylene, and abscisic acid — act as an interconnected signaling network that links stress detection to metabolic changes.
Modern metabolomics enables systems-level, whole-plant mapping of how metabolic pathways are coordinately rewired during stress, moving beyond single-pathway studies.
Stress perception begins at pattern recognition receptors and calcium signaling cascades, which then trigger downstream reprogramming of primary and secondary metabolism.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Plants under attack or environmental stress rapidly rewire their internal chemistry, prioritizing defense compounds while keeping essential functions running. This review maps how hormonal signals — including salicylic acid and jasmonic acid — coordinate that chemical reshuffling, and how modern metabolomics tools are revealing the full picture at a systems level.
Abstract Preview
Plants adapt to biotic and abiotic stresses through extensive metabolic reprogramming that reallocates cellular resources toward defense while maintaining metabolic homeostasis. This process is tig...
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