title: Abscisic Acid: a versatile phytohormone in plant signaling and beyond.
abstract: 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 although it is nowadays clear that its signaling pathways are not isolated but interconnected with other hormone signals in complex networks. This article revises molecular mechanisms involved in the crosstalks of ABA with other phytohormones in response to different physiological processes. Moreover, ABA is not a molecule exclusive from plants but it can be found in many other organisms including bacteria, algae, fungi, animals, etc. Interestingly, it can be synthesized and secreted by a variety of human cells. These aspects that confer to the ABA a range of ubiquitous molecule will be also revised in this article.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias y del Medio Natural, Universitat Jaume I, Campus Riu Sec, E- 12071 Castello de la Plana, Spain. aurelio.gomez@uji.es.
authors.forename: Aurelio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gomez-Cadenas
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vives
authors.forename: Sara I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Zandalinas
authors.forename: Matias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manzi
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Perez
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Perez-Clemente
authors.forename: Vicent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arbona
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D000040:Abscisic Acid