Phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs): Integrating phytohormone signals at the nexus of development and stress adaptation.
Yuan J, Wang R, Ju X, Lin F
Summary
PubMedWhy it matters This matters because the same molecular switches that tell a tomato when to ripen, a seedling when to reach toward light, or a crop plant how to survive a drought are now being mapped in enough detail that plant breeders could fine-tune them to grow more food with less water and fewer pesticides.
Plants constantly juggle signals from their environment — how much light is hitting them, whether it's hot or cold, whether pests are attacking — and they do this using special proteins that act like traffic controllers, routing hormone messages to the right places at the right times. Scientists have now reviewed how one group of these controllers, called PIFs, sits at the center of an enormous web connecting at least seven different plant hormones to dozens of growth and survival decisions. Because this system is found across many plant species, insights from it could be used to breed crops that handle stress better while still growing vigorously.
chevron_right Technical Details
Plants use a family of proteins called PIFs as master switches that coordinate how they grow, flower, and defend themselves by linking light signals with the chemical messengers (hormones) that control nearly every aspect of plant life. Understanding this network opens doors to engineering crops that grow better under stress and produce higher yields.
Key Findings
PIFs integrate signals from at least 7 distinct plant hormones — auxin, brassinosteroids, gibberellin, abscisic acid, ethylene, jasmonate, and salicylic acid — into a single coordinated regulatory network.
PIF proteins control critical life-stage transitions including seed germination, light-driven growth, shade avoidance, temperature responses, circadian rhythms, and fruit maturation, as well as responses to both disease and environmental stress.
The core PIF-hormone interaction modules are evolutionarily conserved across plant species, yet show functional diversification that reflects each species' ecological niche, making them promising targets for broad-spectrum crop improvement.
Abstract Preview
Phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs) serve as central signaling hubs in plants, integrating diverse environmental cues with endogenous phytohormone networks. This review synthesizes the pivotal r...
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