Search PubMedSearch

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “phytohormone crosstalk”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Hormone priming and metabolic engineering of phytohormone crosstalk in rice under combined biotic and abiotic stresses: a multi-omics perspective for climate-resilient crop development.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the caloric backbone for more than half of humanity, yet it remains one of the most vulnerable crops to the simultaneous biotic and abiotic stresses exacerbated by climate change. Phytohormone priming and the complex crosstalk networks governed by transcription factor hubs like WRKY, MYB, and NAC serve as the central adaptive mechanism for stress resilience. This review synthesizes how multi-omics integration, including spatial and single-cell transcriptomics, is resolving the molecular architecture of hormonal priming and epigenetic stress memory. We critically evaluate advanced metabolic engineering and genome-editing strategies such as CRISPR-Cas9, base/prime editing, and synthetic gene circuits that enable precision modifications to decouple stress tolerance from historical yield penalties. Furthermore, we discuss the emerging roles of microbiome-assisted priming via synthetic consortia and the application of artificial intelligence and digital twins (continuously updated computational models of crop physiology) for predictive stress management. By integrating these diverse technological pillars, we propose a systems-level roadmap for developing climate-resilient rice cultivars capable of maintaining yield stability across a volatile combinatorial stress landscape. This synthesis provides a framework for translating mechanistic hormonal insights into field-applicable cultivars to ensure global food security.

CRISPR

Allelochemical signaling and phytohormone crosstalk in plants: molecular mechanisms and implications for sustainable weed management.

Phytotoxic effects from allelopathy occur due to signaling pathways that induce alterations in hormonal balance within the plants, thereby hindering weed growth. Signaling crosstalk between various hormones and signaling pathways (Ca2⁺, MAPK, ROS) is involved in the molecular response mechanisms found through omics. Utilizing such mechanisms would help develop new environmentally friendly methods for sustainable weed management. Allelopathy serves as an essential component of plant-plant interaction via controlling the secretion of secondary metabolites (allelochemicals), which affect the growth, development, and physiological activity of nearby plants. The latest findings indicate that allelochemicals disturb phytohormone balance and signaling pathways resulting in oxidative stress, metabolism dysfunctions, cellular processes disturbances, and eventually inhibiting the growth of target weed species. Molecular biology progress and omics techniques brought information about the sophisticated regulation processes involved in allelopathic interactions. This review summarizes the information about the molecular mechanism of weed suppression mediated by allelopathy with the emphasis on allelochemical perception, phytohormone signaling, ROS responses, and evidence obtained by the application of transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other omics-based studies. In addition, it introduces novel approaches, such as rhizosphere engineering, nanotechnologies, and genome editing, which may improve the effectiveness and reliability of allelopathic weed suppression. Overall, these achievements provide prospects for creating a new generation of weed control technologies that are sustainable, environmentally friendly, and climate-adaptive.

Plant Growth Regulators

From stress signaling to yield stability: physiological and molecular mechanisms of wheat resilience to heat and drought stress.

Wheat resilience depends on coordinated signaling, reproductive protection, and source-sink regulation, providing a framework to breed robust trait combinations that stabilize yield under combined heat and drought. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of heat and drought events, posing a major threat to wheat productivity, yield stability, and food security. Because these stresses often coincide in the field, their combined effects can impair growth, reproductive development, grain filling, and final yield more severely than either stress alone. Wheat resilience under such conditions depends on coordinated physiological adjustment and molecular regulation that sustain cellular homeostasis, protect reproductive tissues, and preserve yield-related traits. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the physiological and molecular bases of wheat resilience to heat and drought, with emphasis on their combined effects. We discuss major physiological responses, including photosynthetic adjustment, stomatal regulation, canopy cooling, osmotic balance, antioxidant defense, membrane stability, and source-sink coordination. We also examine key regulatory pathways involved in stress perception and adaptation, including calcium and reactive oxygen species signaling, mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades, phytohormonal crosstalk, transcriptional regulation, heat shock proteins, late embryogenesis abundant proteins, and osmoprotective and redox-associated pathways. In addition, we highlight the growing contribution of transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phenomics to the identification of candidate genes, biomarkers, and adaptive traits. Finally, we consider how mechanistic insights can be translated into wheat improvement through molecular markers, genomic selection, gene editing, and climate-realistic phenotyping. An integrated understanding of stress signaling and adaptive trait deployment will be essential for developing wheat cultivars with improved resilience and yield stability under future climates.

Triticum

From activation to desensitization: How ABA balances plant growth and abiotic stress response?

Abscisic acid (ABA) signaling is a central regulator of plant adaptation to abiotic stress, dynamically coordinating stress responses with growth and development. Rapid activation of ABA signaling promotes plant survival during the early stages of stress, whereas prolonged stress requires timely attenuation of the pathway to restore growth and prevent excessive stress responses. Recent studies have uncovered diverse mechanisms underlying ABA desensitization, including regulation of SnRK2 kinases, phytohormone crosstalk, nutrient signaling, protein trafficking, post-translational modifications, and feedback regulatory networks. Together, these interconnected mechanisms enable plants to fine-tune ABA signaling in response to developmental and environmental cues. In this review, we summarize recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms that attenuate ABA signaling and restore the balance between growth and stress adaptation during prolonged stress. We also highlight outstanding questions and discuss strategies for engineering ABA signaling dynamics to improve crop resilience, productivity, and adaptation to increasingly variable environments.

Abscisic Acid

Phytoplasma-plant interactions: effector-mediated host reprogramming, hormonal crosstalk, metabolic alterations and plant-mediated vector manipulation.

Phytoplasmas are wall-less, phloem-restricted bacterial pathogens that infect over 1,000 plant species, causing substantial losses in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry worldwide. Despite their reduced genomes and limited metabolic autonomy, these obligate parasites colonize diverse hosts through secreted effector proteins that extensively reprogram plant development, metabolism, immune signalling, and vector interactions. Advances in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and functional studies have substantially clarified the molecular basis of phytoplasma pathogenicity and symptom development. This review synthesizes current understanding of phytoplasma-plant interactions, covering phytoplasma biology, genome evolution, and the infection cycle across plant and insect vector hosts. We examine the molecular functions of key effectors, SAP11, SAP54/PHYL1, SAP05, TENGU, SWP1, and recently identified virulence factors, focusing on how they target host transcription factors, phytohormone networks, protein degradation pathways, and immune responses to promote colonization and disease progression. We further discuss how phytoplasma infection disrupts phytohormone signalling, primary and secondary metabolism, and developmental programs to produce characteristic disease symptoms, with particular attention to pathogen-induced changes in host volatiles and nutritional quality that alter vector behaviour and enhance transmission. Finally, we summarize insights from multi-omics studies and emerging management strategies, including CRISPR-based genome editing, RNAi, rapid molecular diagnostics, resistant cultivars, microbiome-based approaches, and sustainable vector control, and highlight key knowledge gaps and priorities for developing effective, environmentally sustainable phytoplasma disease management.

Phytoplasma

Molecular and transcriptional regulation of plant defense responses to aphid infestation.

Aphids are one of the important agricultural pests causing substantial yield losses in crops grown across the globe. Aphids are known to cause direct feeding damages and indirect losses due to sooty mold development and plant virus transmission. Plants respond to these attacks by mounting a complex defense response at the infested sites and systemic levels. This multilayered defense response involves a highly coordinated network of phytohormones and other signalling components like Ca2+, mitogen activated protein kinases and reactive oxygen species. Key to these complex responses is a well-regulated gene expression involving several transcription factors. A wide range of transcription factors are structurally and functionally characterized across some model plants and in a few agronomically important crops. These transcription factors play diverse roles such as defense gene expression modulation, regulation of hormone signaling, secondary metabolism, oxidative stress response, cell wall modifications, and phloem-based defense. Understanding the integration of signaling pathways, hormone crosstalk, and transcription factor mediated regulation provides a framework for practical applications, including breeding, genome editing, and elicitor-based strategies. This review highlights how plant defense signaling and transcriptional regulation against aphids can be harnessed to develop sustainable and novel pest management solutions.

Aphid

Comparative transcriptomics reveals hormone signaling and MADS-box genes in divergent development of inflorescences and tendrils in grapevine lateral shoots.

Hormone signaling and MADS-box genes regulate grapevine tendril and inflorescence growth divergence, offering molecular insights for managing tendril growth. Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) tendrils and inflorescences are homologous organs; however, their divergent development has important agronomic consequences because excessive tendril growth increases vineyard management costs. To explore the regulatory mechanisms, we compared the inflorescence-prone cultivar 'Einset Seedless' (ENT) with the tendril-prone cultivar 'Pinot Noir' (PN) using anatomical observation, transcriptome analysis of specific tendril nodes, and functional characterization of MADS-box genes. ENT exhibited a higher flowering rate at tendril nodes 1-4 than PN. Transcriptome profiling of specific tendril nodes uncovered 549 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through an intersection/exclusion strategy, with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment indicating that hormone and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling were the primary candidates driving the divergence. To assess the spatiotemporal dynamics of these DEGs, we performed Mfuzz clustering, which revealed that multiple expression trajectories were highly consistent with the flowering gradient across different ENT and PN nodes. Plant hormone signal transduction was the predominantly enriched pathway across all dynamic clusters, highlighting the centrality of phytohormones in this process. Guided by this transcriptional evidence, we measured endogenous zeatin and gibberellin (GA₃) contents in the nodal tissues. Remarkably, the zeatin-to-GA₃ ratio not only paralleled the flowering gradient but also correlated with the cluster expression trajectories, providing physiological evidence for a cytokinin-gibberellin interaction model governing organ divergence. Additionally, we analyzed the differentially expressed transcription factors among the DEGs and identified a MADS-box gene, FRUITFULL-LIKE (VvFUL-L), which was markedly upregulated in PN tendrils. Heterologous overexpression of VvFUL-L in arabidopsis promoted early flowering and reduced inflorescence branching, suggesting its potential role in regulating lateral meristem development and affecting tendril formation. Collectively, these findings establish that Hormone Signaling, particularly cytokinin-GA crosstalk, and MADS-box regulators, such as VvFUL-L, are key regulators of inflorescence versus tendril growth in grapevines, providing a basis for future molecular and breeding studies.

Vitis

Cultivar-dependent regulation of cytokinin biosynthesis in wheat: developmental expression of TaIPT genes and hormonal crosstalk during reproductive development.

BACKGROUND: Cytokinins are key regulators of plant growth, reproductive development, and yield formation. In cereals, cytokinin biosynthesis is catalyzed by isopentenyltransferase (IPT) enzymes, yet the genomic organization and developmental regulation of IPT genes in polyploid wheat remain incompletely understood, especially at the cultivar level. RESULTS: Here, we present an integrated genomic, transcriptional, and hormonal analysis of the TaIPT gene family during vegetative and reproductive development in two wheat cultivars, awnless Kontesa and awned Ostka. Genome-wide analysis identified nine core TaIPT genes represented by 25 homoeologs distributed across the A, B, and D subgenomes, for which a unified nomenclature was established. Phylogenetic analysis resolved TaIPTs into conserved evolutionary clades corresponding to ATP/ADP-dependent and tRNA-dependent IPT groups. Expression profiling revealed distinct spatial and temporal patterns of TaIPT transcription across roots, leaves, inflorescences, and developing spikes. Several TaIPT genes showed enhanced expression during early reproductive stages, coinciding with dynamic changes in cytokinin concentrations. Comparative analyses revealed cultivar-specific expression and co-variation patterns, with Kontesa displaying more compartmentalized TaIPT expression and Ostka showing coordinated activation of multiple TaIPT genes during early grain development. Hormone profiling further indicated stage-dependent associations between TaIPT expression, cytokinin metabolism, and the balance between cytokinins and abscisic acid. These relationships are interpreted as correlative and provide a framework for future functional testing rather than direct evidence of causality. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these results provide a cultivar-focused framework for understanding the organization and regulation of cytokinin biosynthesis genes in wheat. The data highlight cultivar-dependent TaIPT expression patterns and their association with cytokinin dynamics during reproductive development, while also identifying the need for homoeolog-specific and functional validation. This study establishes a foundation for future research on cytokinin-mediated regulation of wheat growth and grain development.

Triticum