Insight into abscisic acid perception and signaling to increase plant tolerance to abiotic stress

Abstract

As changes occur in climate, abiotic stress to agricultural production is an inevitable threat to farmers' ability to meet an increasing demand to feed people. Plants have developed a stress tolerance mechanism to reduce the effects of such environmental conditions by engaging various stressresponsive genes. Accordingly, various signal transduction networks are used to fabricate stress tolerance. Engineering of the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) could be a choice method for scientists to mitigate abiotic stress because of its widespread role in response to salt, drought, heat, and cold stresses including triggering stomatal regulation and leaf senescence. In addition, it plays a crucial role in seed maturation, seed dormancy, stomatal opening/closure and increases resistance against pathogens through callose depositions and regulates physiological strategies in stress signaling pathways through synchronizing of hormonal crosstalk. The transcriptional regulation can be achieved through ABA-dependent and ABA-independent signaling cascades. ABAI5 and RD29A genes are regulated in ABA-dependent and independent manners to mitigate stress tolerance. ABA regulatory components (RCARs) including pyrabactin resistance PYR/PYL genes, SnRK2 type protein kinases, transcription factors (WRKY, NAC, AREB1, bZIP, RGL2, and ABRE), reactive oxygen species, jasmonic acid and cytokinin hormones regulate ABA gene action in response to abiotic stresses.

Plants’ Physio-Biochemical and Phyto-Hormonal Responses to Alleviate the Adverse Effects of Drought Stress: A Comprehensive Review

“…In the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana L.) plant, overexpression of the ABA-induced cotton gene (GhCBF3) leads to the high drought tolerance in transgenic lines by maintaining Ch, RW, and proline levels more significant than in the wild-type plant [225,226]. The stress hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is implicated in plants' leaf abscission and abiotic stress [227]. ABA has the primary and critical role in plants' developmental and physiological activities, including seed dormancy [228], tumor cell maintenance, stomatal opening, embryo morphogenesis, and fat and stored protein production.…”

Ectopic expression of DnaJ type-I protein homolog of Vigna aconitifolia (VaDJI) confers ABA insensitivity and multiple stress tolerance in transgenic tobacco plants

“…Emerging evidence indicates that ABA is a crucial plant hormone involved in controlling stress responses and also minimizing water loss. During drought stress conditions, ABA modifies ion transport in guard cells by encouraging stomatal closure and blocking stomatal opening ( Sah et al., 2016 ; Rehman et al., 2021 ). In our present study, various observations shed light on the function of VaDJI in plants under drought conditions.…”

Short-term severe drought influences root volatile biosynthesis in eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L)

“…Our results suggested that sesquiterpenes may probably be replaced by monoterpenes when drought is prolonged, because drought can impede the cyclization of sesquiterpene precursors ( Kopaczyk et al., 2020 ; Arizmendi et al., 2022 ). The increase in ABA content and the subsequent stomatal closure is also considered an important signaling event under drought stress across several species ( Bharath et al., 2021 ; Rehman et al., 2021 ). The increase in root ABA content positively correlates with an increase in several monoterpene and negatively correlates with several sequiterpene content in our study.…”