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Plant stress hormone's teamwork could help engineer climate-tough crops

Samanta S, Roychoudhury A

Plant Signaling

The tomatoes wilting on a hot afternoon or the lawn browning in a dry spell are running an internal hormone conversation that scientists are just now mapping well enough to potentially breed more resilient varieties.

When plants face drought, heat, or other tough conditions, they rely on a stress hormone called abscisic acid that doesn't work alone. This review pulls together decades of research on how that hormone talks to a whole cast of other plant chemical messengers, essentially mapping out the plant's internal decision-making process for surviving hard times. Understanding this network could help scientists breed crops that handle climate stress better without sacrificing growth.

Key Findings

1

Abscisic acid interacts with major hormones including gibberellins, ethylene, auxin, and cytokinins to balance plant growth versus stress defense.

2

The hormone also crosstalks with brassinosteroids, strigolactones, nitric oxide, salicylic acid, melatonin, jasmonic acid, polyamines, hydrogen sulfide, and calcium signaling.

3

These interactions can be either synergistic or antagonistic depending on stress type, and mapping them could inform breeding of climate-resilient crop varieties.

chevron_right Technical Summary

Scientists reviewed how the plant stress hormone abscisic acid teams up with other plant hormones and signals to help crops survive drought, heat, and other harsh conditions, offering a roadmap for breeding tougher crops as climate change intensifies.

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Abstract Preview

Original paper

Abscisic acid interplay with phytohormones, plant growth regulators and signaling molecules in orchestrating an elaborate crosstalk for stress resilience in plants.

The increasing challenges, posed by plant biotic and abiotic stress, significantly impact agroecosystems, particularly in the context of rapid global climate change. Phytohormones function as criti...

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Abstract copyright held by the original publisher.

hub This connects to 8 other discoveries — plant-signaling, climate-adaptation, crop-improvement 5 related articles

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thermostat Climate Adaptation
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thermostat

Climate adaptation in plants refers to the physiological and evolutionary mechanisms through which plants adjust to changing environmental conditions, including temperature shifts, altered precipitation patterns, and seasonal variations. Understanding these processes is essential for plant science

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