Emerging Insights into Phytohormonal Crosstalk in Plant Stress Tolerance

Submission Deadline: 31 August 2025 View: 40 Submit to Special Issue

Guest Editors

Dr. Muhammad Ahsan Altaf

Email: ahsanaltaf@hainanu.edu.cn

Affiliation: School of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou City, 572025, China

Homepage:

Research Interests: Abiotic stresses, Heavy metals, Photosynthesis, Plant Physiology, Phytohormone

Summary

Phytohormones play a crucial role in providing a sophisticated mechanism to circumvent stress at different morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. Phytohormone mediates the abiotic stress-responsive signalling pathway and modulates other cell wall repair mechanisms, pH regulations, root hair formation, ionic homeostasis, chlorophyll content, synthesis, and leaf morphology. Auxin, cytokinins, ethylene, strigolactones, brassinosteroid, salicylic acid, abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, and other phytohormones have also other phytohormones recently been discovered to play a vital role in the production of abiotic stress-tolerant crops. Moreover, recently discovered phytohormone-like plant growth regulators such as polyamines, sugars, neurotransmitters, and strigolactones are an effective strategy to mitigate abiotic stress.

Plants rely on intricate networks of phytohormones to mediate their responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Phytohormones such as abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), auxins, gibberellins (GAs), ethylene, and cytokinins (CKs) play pivotal roles in stress tolerance. Crosstalk between these hormonal pathways allows plants to coordinate growth and defense mechanisms, enhancing resilience to environmental challenges.

This Special Issue seeks to explore the emerging insights into how these phytohormonal interactions modulate plant stress responses. We invite research on the molecular mechanisms of hormonal crosstalk, genetic and biotechnological approaches to enhancing stress tolerance, and practical applications for sustainable agriculture. Studies that investigate the interaction of phytohormones with secondary metabolites and signaling pathways are also welcome.

Topics include but are not limited to:

-Hormonal crosstalk in biotic and abiotic stress tolerance.

-Molecular mechanisms of phytohormonal interactions.

-Genetic and biotechnological strategies to enhance stress resilience.

-Practical applications in sustainable agriculture.

This Special Issue aims to provide valuable insights into phytohormonal interactions, contributing to crop improvement and resilience.

Keywords