title: Abscisic acid, ethylene and gibberellic acid act at different developmental stages to instruct the adaptation of young leaves to stress.
abstract: Drought stress represents a particularly great environmental challenge for plants. A decreased water availability can severely limit growth, and this jeopardizes the organism's primary goal-to survive and sustain growth long enough to ensure the plentiful production of viable seeds within the favorable growth season. It is therefore vital for a growing plant to sense oncoming drought as early as possible, and to respond to it rapidly and appropriately in all organs. A typical, fast energy-saving response is the arrest of growth in young organs, which is likely mediated by root-derived signals. A recent publication indicates that three plant hormones (abscisic acid, ethylene and gibberellic acid) mediate the adaptation of leaf growth in response to drought, and that they act at different developmental stages. Abscisic acid mainly acts in mature cells, while ethylene and gibberellic acid function in expanding and dividing leaf cells. This provides the plant with a means to differentially control the developmental zones of a growing leaf, and to integrate environmental signals differently in sink and source tissues. Here we discuss the biological implications of this discovery in the context of long-distance xylem and phloem transport.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biotechnology and Genetics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Verelst
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skirycz
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Inzé
references.citation: J Exp Bot. 2004 Nov;55(407):2353-63
references.pmid: 15310826
references.citation: Plant Cell. 2005 Jun;17(6):1704-22
references.pmid: 15749764
references.citation: Plant Physiol. 2010 Jan;152(1):226-44
references.pmid: 19906889
references.citation: Plant Physiol. 1980 Feb;65(2):322-6
references.pmid: 16661182
references.citation: Phytochemistry. 2004 Jun;65(12):1795-804
references.pmid: 15276438
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2004 Oct 5;14(19):1739-46
references.pmid: 15458645
references.citation: Plant J. 2005 Apr;42(1):49-68
references.pmid: 15773853
references.citation: Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2006;57:203-32
references.pmid: 16669761
references.citation: Nature. 2001 May 10;411(6834):154
references.pmid: 11346781
references.citation: J Exp Bot. 2007;58(2):221-7
references.pmid: 17075077
references.citation: Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2010 Apr;21(2):197-203
references.pmid: 20363612
references.citation: Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2007 Oct;10(5):473-6
references.pmid: 17884716
references.citation: Plant J. 2007 Feb;49(4):619-28
references.pmid: 17217459
references.citation: Plant Cell Environ. 2002 Feb;25(2):195-210
references.pmid: 11841663
references.citation: Ann Bot. 2002 Feb;89(2):183-9
references.pmid: 12099349
references.citation: Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2001 Oct;4(5):421-8
references.pmid: 11597500
references.citation: Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2001 Jun;4(3):202-9
references.pmid: 11312130
references.citation: Science. 2007 May 18;316(5827):1030-3
references.pmid: 17446353
references.citation: Planta. 1989 Nov;179(4):466-74
references.pmid: 24201770
references.citation: J Exp Bot. 2007;58(13):3645-56
references.pmid: 17928373