Plant growth hormone doubles as a disease-fighting traffic controller
Bai Y, Yang B, Wang C, Zhang Y, Mrisho II
Plant Signaling
The stunted, twisted growth you sometimes see on a stressed tomato plant or rose bush after an insect attack is auxin rerouting the plant's energy from growing to defending itself, and understanding that switch could lead to hardier crops and garden varieties.
Auxin is best known as the hormone that tells plant cells where to grow, curving stems toward light or directing roots downward. This review pulls together recent research showing auxin has a second job: helping plants sense attacks from insects and pathogens, then negotiating with other hormones like jasmonic acid and salicylic acid to decide whether to keep growing or divert resources to defense. That growth-versus-defense balancing act could eventually help breeders design crops that fend off pests without sacrificing yield.
Key Findings
Auxin signaling shapes transcriptional and immune responses during plant-pathogen and plant-insect interactions, beyond its classic developmental roles
Extensive cross-talk exists between auxin and jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, ethylene, and cytokinin that fine-tunes the trade-off between growth and immunity
Molecular mechanisms of auxin's context-dependent, hormone-integrated defense signaling remain incompletely mapped, representing a key gap for crop resilience engineering
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists are learning that auxin, the hormone that steers how plants grow, also acts as a switch that helps plants decide when to fight off pests and diseases versus when to keep growing, by talking to other plant hormones.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Auxin signaling networks and hormonal cross-talk in plant responses to biotic stress.
Plants are continuously challenged by biotic stressors, including pathogens, pests, and parasitic organisms, which threaten their growth, development, and productivity. As sessile organisms, plants...
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Crop-improvement refers to the systematic enhancement of plant varieties through selective breeding, genetic modification, and biotechnological approaches to develop cultivars with superior agronomic, nutritional, or environmental traits. This field is essential for addressing global food security,
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