Plant Signal Cross-Talk during Abiotic Stress
摘要
Stresses are an inherent part of plant’s life cycle, abiotic stress limiting plant productivity and growth at multiple levels. In natural environments, plants experience different abiotic stresses such as salt stress, water stress, temperature stress etc. However, it has been observed that these stressors occur simultaneously or sequentially often amplifies damage through synergistic effects and induces novel signaling responses beyond individual stresses. In response, plant activates several different pathways and signalling molecules to combat such stresses conditions. In an attempt to understand the effect of combined stresses it becomes pertinent to study and understand the crosstalk between their signaling pathways. The employed complex signaling networks include molecules like phytohormones such as abscisic acid, ethylene, cytokinin, calcium ions (Ca2⁺), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and pathways like MAPK cascades. This review synthesizes these pathways into a novel comparative interaction map, identifying key network hubs (e.g., ABA-JA-SA nexus, ROS-MAPK nodes) and feedback loops that enable adaptive responses to combined stresses. Crosstalk among these signals enables plants to fine-tune responses to simultaneous stresses. This review highlights the roles, interactions, and regulatory mechanisms of these signaling components in orchestrating plant defense and adaptation under multiple abiotic stress conditions.