Current Protein and Peptide Science - Volume 16, Issue 5, 2015

Plant growth and development is under the control of mutual interactions among plant hormones. The five classical categories of plant hormones include auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, abscisic acid and ethylene. Additionally, newer classes of plant hormones have been recognized like brassinosteroids, jasmonic acid, salicylic acid and polyamines. These hormones play significant roles in regulating the plant growth and d Read More

The plant hormone auxin regulates a whole repertoire of plant growth and development. Many plant-associated microorganisms, by virtue of their auxin production capability, mediate phytostimulation effects on plants. Recent studies, however, demonstrate diverse mechanisms whereby plant pathogens manipulate auxin biosynthesis, signaling and transport pathways to promote host susceptibility. Auxin responses have been c Read More

As signal molecules produced within the plant, phytohormones (plant hormones) control plant growth and development through the regulation of gene expression. They play also a crucial role in the regulation of cellular activities including elongation, cell division and differentiation, organogenesis, pattern formation, reproduction and responses to abiotic and biotic stress conditions. Cytokinins, auxins, gibberellins, ab Read More

Plants tend to acclimatize to unfavourable environs by integrating growth and development to environmentally activated signals. Phytohormones strongly regulate convergent developmental and stress adaptive procedures and synchronize cellular reaction to the exogenous and endogenous conditions within the adaptive signaling networks. Gibberellins (GA), a group of tetracyclic diterpenoids, being vital regulators of plant gr Read More

As sessile organisms, plants cannot escape from adverse conditions and, therefore, they have developed complex responses to the changing environment. Plant responses to abiotic cues involve changes in metabolism, photosynthesis, gene expression, ion levels, etc., and must be perfectly coordinated by phytohormones. The abscisic acid (ABA) is the main phytohormone involved in abiotic stress responses althoug Read More

Environmental stress includes adverse factors like water deficit, high salinity, enhanced temperature and heavy metals etc. These stresses alter the normal growth and metabolic processes of plants including photosynthesis. Major photosynthetic responses under various stresses include inhibition of photosystems (I and II), changes in thylakoid complexes, decreased photosynthetic activity and modifications in structure and functio Read More

Phytohormone crosstalk is crucial for plant defenses against pathogens and insects in which salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and ethylene (ET) play key roles. These low molecular mass signals critically trigger and modulate plant resistance against biotrophic as well as necrotrophic pathogens through a complex signaling network that even involves participation of other hormones. Crosstalk among SA, JA and ET is m Read More

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are ubiquitous plant steroid hormones, playing diverse roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. Defects in BRs biosynthesis or signaling result in physiologic and phenotypic abnormalities. To date, numerous studies have highlighted BRs-induced stress tolerance to various environmental extremes such as high temperature, chilling, drought, salinity and heavy metals in a range of plant s Read More